BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom

The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

The authority has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Damage Credibility'

The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe found that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.

"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."