BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says UK Media Regulator

The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

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

The regulator has directed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time statement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Undermine Trust'

The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.

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

"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."