BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
