The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
