British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
