BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
