British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
