British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
