BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
