🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom. An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading". The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness". Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions. "Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," it said. 'Potential to Damage Credibility' The authority's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive. "This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented. "Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster. "This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza." The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness. A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."