BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
