BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
