British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are determined."
