BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator

The BBC committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".

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

The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.

"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he provided.

"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."