British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to transmit a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
