British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are finalised."