BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
