BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high degrees of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
