BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the corporation to transmit a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
