🔗 Share this article

The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Damage Trust'

The regulator's announcement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.

"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.

"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."