🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom. An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive". The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its conclusions. "As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated. 'Potential to Damage Trust' The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive. "It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided. "Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. "This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict." The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy. A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."