đź”— Share this article BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom. An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate". The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness". The authority has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its findings. "Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated. 'Possibility to Erode Trust' The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading. "It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented. "Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster. "This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza." The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness. A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards. "We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."