BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog

The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Erode Confidence'

The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the content he presented.

"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of confidence that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was removed from the online platform in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."