BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
