BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father held a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
