🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading". The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its findings. "Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read. 'Potential to Damage Credibility' The authority's report said: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate. "This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he presented. "Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster. "This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed 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 familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness. A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."