BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."