BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."