The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, 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 BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
