BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
