The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
