🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, Declares Ofcom The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom. An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film 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". The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings. "Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated. 'Possibility to Erode Trust' The regulator's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive. "Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he provided. "Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster. "This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict." The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy. A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. "We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."