British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
