British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement 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 statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
