British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the corporation to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."