The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
