British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
