🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child 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 film was "significantly deceptive". The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has directed the corporation to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions. "As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read. 'Potential to Damage Credibility' The watchdog's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive. "This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared. "Trust is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC. "This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza." The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy. A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards. "We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."