British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
