The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
