BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
