The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
