BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing 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 determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's statement said: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
