BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
