British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator

The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".

The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its findings.

"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.

'Possibility to Damage Credibility'

The watchdog's report said: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.

"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.

"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."