The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
