The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
The watchdog's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
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