The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
