BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are finalised."
