The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
