🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom. An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate". The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy". The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a evening statement about its conclusions. "As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated. 'Potential to Erode Confidence' The authority's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive. "This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented. "Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. "This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war." The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the corporation's content policies on truthfulness. A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."