BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by 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 "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The authority's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
