British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
