BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
