The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
