BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson 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 corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
