BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's father held a position in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
