BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling 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 clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
