BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator

The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its decisions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Undermine Trust'

The authority's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.

"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.

"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."