BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts 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 media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing 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 have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
