British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent held a post in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."