The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "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 broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
