British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom

The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.

'Risk to Damage Credibility'

The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.

"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.

A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."