British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."