British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
