BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable amounts of trust that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."
