The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
