BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent held a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
