British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings 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 reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
