British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
