The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
