British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
