BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father served in a post in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement 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 aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
