The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
