BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to air a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
