🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom. An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate". The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy". The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions. "Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated. 'Risk to Damage Confidence' The authority's report said: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive. "It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared. "Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. "This oversight had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza." The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness. A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards. "We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."