The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's father held a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences 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The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
