BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
