British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
