The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
