The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
