BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation 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, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
