BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings 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 corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
