The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
