British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog

The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its decisions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," it said.

'Risk to Erode Confidence'

The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.

"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and language are finalised."