BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance 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 accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
