🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom. An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive". The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions. "Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," it said. 'Potential to Erode Credibility' The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading. "This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he presented. "Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster. "This oversight had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict." The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness. A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."