BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, Says Ofcom

The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Undermine Trust'

The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he presented.

"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."

The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's content policies on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

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