British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
