British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
