British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."