🔗 Share this article British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive". The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions. "Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read. 'Possibility to Erode Credibility' The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive. "This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared. "Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC. "This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict." The programme was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy. A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."