BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
