British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog 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, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
