🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading". The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness". Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time declaration about its decisions. "Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated. 'Possibility to Undermine Credibility' The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading. "It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided. "Trust is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. "This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war." The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness. A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. "We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and language are finalised."