The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
