British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom

The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its decisions.

"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.

'Possibility to Damage Confidence'

The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he presented.

"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.

"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."