BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body 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 previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
