The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
