The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
