BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, 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 Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."