British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
