British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
