BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom

The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

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

The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.

'Potential to Undermine Confidence'

The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.

"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."