The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
