BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
