BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
