The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
