The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
