BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the corporation to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
