British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit 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 determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The regulator's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
