British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
