BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Regulations, Says Ofcom

The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening statement about its decisions.

"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The authority's statement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."

The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

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