The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
