The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found 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 truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
A travel enthusiast and writer based in London, sharing cultural insights and personal adventures from across the UK and beyond.
