British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
