British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
