British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator

The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.

"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high degrees of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."