British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator

The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".

The regulator has directed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.

'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."