BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom

The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its decisions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.

'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'

The regulator's report said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he presented.

"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.

A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."