The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility 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 narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
