British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's father held a position in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with 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 sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
