BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our probe found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
