The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation found that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
