British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom

The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.

"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.

"Trust is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The documentary was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement 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 factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."