BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's father served in a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."