The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into 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, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a post in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
