British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator

The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

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

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Damage Credibility'

The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.

"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.

"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."