BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are confirmed."