BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog

The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

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

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

The regulator has directed the BBC to air a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," it said.

'Risk to Undermine Credibility'

The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.

"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This error had the risk to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."

The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."