The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a television network and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
