BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
