The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
