BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom

The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.

'Potential to Undermine Credibility'

The authority's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.

"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."