The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to damage the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
