BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's statement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
