🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom. An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive". The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions. "As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated. 'Risk to Damage Credibility' The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate. "It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he provided. "Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. "This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza." The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness. A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. "We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."