BBC Trust Emphasises Editorial Guidelines

The BBC Trust has asked that the BBC’s next editorial compliance report sets out procedures to ensure that problems such as those encountered with the Blue Peter faked-winner scandal are not repeated.

The BBC executive board is required by the trust to submit an editorial compliance report twice yearly, with the first one due in May.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the Trust requested that the report “set out clearly the compliance procedures which management applies to different categories of programmes and provide assurance on how management ensures awareness amongst staff, particularly in non-News areas, of the BBC’s editorial guidelines”.

The Trust also discussed the recent phone-in problems and said that it recognised “BBC management’s swift action once the mistakes had come to light and in particular the public apologies which were issued and the commitment to identify and address the errors which had led to the mistakes”.

BBC management is still carrying out internal investigations into what went wrong with the phone-ins.

Meanwhile, Ofcom yesterday announced that it is launching an inquiry into the use of premium-rate telecoms services (PRS) in television programmes, with Richard Eyre leading the investigation (see Ofcom Announces Phone-In Investigation).

The inquiry will look at both audience’s attitudes to PRS and apparent compliance issues. Eyre is expected to present his findings by early Summer.

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk