The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
