BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
