BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's announcement said: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a post in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects 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 comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."