The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
