British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions 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 Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
