BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
