British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
