The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
