British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme 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 accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
