The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high amounts of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
