BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."