BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
