British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, States Ofcom

The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Damage Confidence'

The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.

"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

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