BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
