BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The authority's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the core 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 potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
