The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"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 wording are determined."
