BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
