BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a evening statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
