The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father held a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
