🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says Ofcom The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading". The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness". Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its findings. "Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said. 'Risk to Damage Credibility' The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate. "Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented. "Trust is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC. "This oversight had the possibility to erode the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza." The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness. A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. "We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."