British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
