British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and language are determined."