The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
