British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
