The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
