The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "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 corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
