The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The authority's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
