BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator

The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time statement about its findings.

"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.

'Potential to Undermine Credibility'

The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father held a role in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.

"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.

"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."