BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog

The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Confidence'

The authority's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.

"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The film was removed from iPlayer in February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."