BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a evening declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and language are confirmed."