British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation 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 earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
