The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
