British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."