British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog

The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," it said.

'Potential to Damage Trust'

The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.

"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.

"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."