TV Festival Looks At Viewer Trust
For many, 2007 was television’s annus horribilis, beginning with the Big Brother racism controversy (see Big Brother Controversy Could Force C4 To Rethink Remit) and travelling onward through claims of fakery and telephone fraud. Unsurprisingly then, the issue of viewer trust was one of the big themes of the recent MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel 4, said that the recent problems encountered by the industry, such as the Richard and Judy phone-in scandal (see Record Fine For Richard & Judy Phone Quiz Operator), could damage other programmes and make it easier for people to believe that television is sometimes less than honest.
Talking about the Channel 4 documentary Undercover Mosque – which is currently being investigated by Ofcom – Duncan said that police accusations against the programme had placed it in the same bracket as those programmes which have been shown to have misled the public.
Duncan said: “The wider deception of fakery and premium rate telephone services could undermine the very positive role TV can play. Good programming is in danger of having its reputation damaged.”
Looking at the reasons behind a possible lack of trust, Tim Hincks, chief creative officer of Endemol UK, warned that it was vital that the separate incidents were not lumped together as one and the same thing.
He said that there was a distinct difference between the phone line scandals, Big Brother race issues and occasions of misleading the public through choices made in the editing suite.
“It’s complicated and we should stop looking at it as one big block,” he said.
Ray Snoddy, media commentator and a regular at MediaTel Group seminars, agreed with Hincks that it was unfortunate that several unrelated incidents came to the fore at the same time.
He pointed out that the record £50,000 fine for Blue Peter (see £50,000 Fine For BBC) had come in the same week as the dodgy trailer for the Queen documentary – which appeared to show the Monarch storming out of a photo-shoot (see Queen Documentary Might Never Be Shown).
Snoddy also compared the accountability of the television industry with the press, noting that after the Sun‘s story about a great white shark being spotted off Cornwall had been shown to be false, the paper had not come under as much scrutiny as those in television had.
“Under the existing system, broadcasters are held to a higher system of account,” he said.
Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk Endemol: www.endemoluk.com