The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
