The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
