British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
