British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
