BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the significantly high amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
