🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom. An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate". The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness". Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings. "As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated. 'Possibility to Damage Confidence' The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate. "It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he shared. "Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster. "This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war." The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness. A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards. "We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."