British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."