BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of trust that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions 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 Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
