The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
