BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
