BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found 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 truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
