BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
