British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's report said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
