BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's father held a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
