British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."