British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator

The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.

'Risk to Erode Trust'

The authority's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.

"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.

"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."