BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
