British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
