BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog

The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".

The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its decisions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the content he presented.

"Trust is at the core of the connection between a television network and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."