BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
