The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 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 adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
