British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent 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, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
