BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant 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, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the significantly high degrees of credibility that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
