The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high degrees of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
