British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
