British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the corporation to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the very considerable amounts of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
