BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
