British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of trust that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film 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 complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
