The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
