British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator

The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

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

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

The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.

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

"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."

The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are finalised."