The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
