BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
