BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."
