BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
