British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."