BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
