British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant 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.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
