🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention 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 investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading". The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy". The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions. "As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated. 'Risk to Damage Credibility' The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive. "This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented. "Credibility is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC. "This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza." The programme was pulled from iPlayer in February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness. A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations. "We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."