British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"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 oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
