BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
