The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network 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 trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
