BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator

The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Undermine Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.

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

"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."

The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."