BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
