BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to air a evening declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
