BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."