BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
