BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
