The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
