BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's report declared: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
