BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
