BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster 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 factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
