Phased Return For BBC Competitions
A phased return of competitions on BBC programmes and online is to begin in November following a review of its programming aimed at finding further evidence of viewer deception.
BBC director general Mark Thompson revealed yesterday that four more examples of editorial breaches had been discovered.
In a statement, the BBC Trust said: “These breaches, and other matters where competitions have not been run in a manner which is wholly fair, suggest that in certain parts of the BBC a culture has developed where knowledge of and/or adherence to the BBC editorial guidelines and external regulation is inadequate and this is resulting in standards not being met which the BBC and the public expect of its content producers.”
It is believed that around 25 people will be disciplined for the breaches, among them Richard Marson, former Blue Peter editor, and Ric Blaxill, 6Music director of programmes.
Competitions will now have to be approved and supervised at a senior level within each output area. The director-general reported to the BBC Trust yesterday that he expected a significant reduction in the number of competitions being broadcast by the BBC, but he added that audiences enjoyed taking part in BBC programmes in this way.
As a result of the editorial mistakes, the BBC will now put all 16,500 of its production and content staff in a mandatory programme of editorial training called Safeguarding Trust.
Following the furore earlier this year over the trailer for the documentary on the Queen – which misleadingly appeared to show the Queen walking off “in a huff” – all publicity materials are now subject to formal editorial compliance, with further action in this area to follow, subject to the recommendations of the Wyatt inquiry on the subject (see Queen Documentary Might Never Be Shown).
Thompson said: “I would like to repeat my apology to viewers and listeners who were misled by these editorial lapses.
“The BBC has taken a wide range of actions in recent months to strengthen our editorial guidelines and processes to address the very significant concern rightly felt over editorial misjudgments.
“Although these lapses amount to tens of hours across one million hours of broadcasting, the BBC’s standards must be as high in small scale competitions as they are in the most major news story.
“I believe that the actions we have and are taking demonstrate the central importance the whole BBC places on getting it right.”
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk