BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Says UK Media Regulator

The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.

'Potential to Damage Credibility'

The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he presented.

"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."