BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."