BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 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 comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
