The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to damage the very considerable amounts of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
