BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
