The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
