The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
