BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom

The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Confidence'

The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.

"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he shared.

"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are determined."