The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
