British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels 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 February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
