The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
