The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
