British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined 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".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."