BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high degrees of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in line 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 clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."
