British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The authority's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
