British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
