BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's statement said: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father held a post in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
