The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
