The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology 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 determined."
