BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."