The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
