BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
