BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
