The BBC committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The authority's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
