BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
