BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."