The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
