BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
