British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
