British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
