BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's report said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects 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 adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
