The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
