British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."