The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe 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, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
