British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded 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 factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
