The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to air a peak-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
