BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions 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 authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
