BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling 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 reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
