BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."