British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
