The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to undermine the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
