British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
