🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading". The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness". The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a evening statement about its findings. "Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to air a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," it said. 'Risk to Erode Credibility' The authority's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive. "It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the information he presented. "Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster. "This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza." The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy. A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. "We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."