The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary 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 BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
