🔗 Share this article

The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time statement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.

'Risk to Damage Credibility'

The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he shared.

"Trust is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."