BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."