British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
