British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled 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 major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
