BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
