British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
