The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
