BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
