British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance 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 aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."