British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine 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 pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."