BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
