The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
