BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
