The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
