BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the online platform in February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
