British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results 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 corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
