British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to undermine the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "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 BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
