BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
