BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the very considerable degrees of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
