British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results 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 corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
