BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
