BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
