BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."