BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions 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 corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
