BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
