British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
