British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
