The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
