BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's parent held a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
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 programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
