British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
