🔗 Share this article BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom. An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate". The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy". The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its decisions. "As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read. 'Possibility to Undermine Confidence' The regulator's statement said: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate. "Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided. "Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC. "This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict." The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy. A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. "We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."