BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom

The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

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

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

The regulator has directed the corporation to air a peak-time declaration about its findings.

"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.

'Possibility to Damage Confidence'

The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.

"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.

A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."