BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
