British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
