BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom

The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

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

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".

The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.

'Risk to Damage Confidence'

The authority's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.

"Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."