The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
