BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
