BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
