The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of trust that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
