The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
