BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
