British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator

The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".

The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.

"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a role in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.

"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.

"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.

A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."