British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to undermine the very considerable amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
