British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog

The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'

The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.

"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and language are finalised."