British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a evening statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's report stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
