BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
