BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
