BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
