BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
