British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, States Ofcom

The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," it said.

'Potential to Damage Confidence'

The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.

"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he shared.

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

"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."