BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
