British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line 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 truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
