BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
