BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "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 factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
