British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a evening statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
