The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
