BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a role in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
