BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
