BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent held a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
