BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
