BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog

The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.

"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.

'Potential to Erode Trust'

The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a position in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.

"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.

A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."