BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator

The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Damage Credibility'

The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.

"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.

"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This error had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."