BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official 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 broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."