BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
