BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
