BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a role in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
