🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading". The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy". The regulator has directed the BBC to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions. "Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said. 'Potential to Damage Credibility' The authority's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive. "It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he shared. "Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. "This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza." The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness. A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."