BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
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 broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are finalised."
