The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
