The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
