Ofcom Slaps BBC With Phone-In Fine For Faking Call

The BBC has been slapped with a £50,000 fine over a faked phone-in for a 'Blue Peter' competition.
A child visiting the set was allowed to pose as a caller when technical problems had prevented genuine callers getting through via the studio phone-in line.
Watchdog Ofcom was critical of the BBC regarding failings in training to ensure compliance with the Standards Code and inaction by senior BBC staff for not taking appropriate action given the seriousness of the breach.
Ofcom fined the BBC £45,000 for the initial breach of the Code by BBC1 and a further £5,000 for a subsequent breach caused by a repeat of the Blue Peter Programme on CBBC.
Ofcom viewed the breaches of the Code in relation to the original broadcast on BBC1 as "particularly serious" and it was of "great concern" that the decision to air a fake winner resulted in the child audience being misled.
The Ofcom report noted: "…cases where the broadcaster has misled the audience are always considered by Ofcom (and its predecessor regulators) as to be amongst the most serious breaches of the Code. They go to the heart of the relationship of trust between the broadcaster and its audience - in this case, an audience which is primarily made up of children."
In a statement the BBC Trust said: "The errors which occurred around the Blue Peter programme on 27 November last year were particularly serious as they resulted in children being misled to participate in a competition they had no chance of winning and in a child in the studio being involved in deceiving the audience.
"Ofcom has been given powers by Parliament to fine the BBC if Ofcom finds that a breach of its Standards Code has been serious. Ofcom has exercised that power in this instance.
"The Trust expects BBC management to continue to demonstrate a commitment to learning from these breaches: we were pleased by the management's swift response when the errors came to light and its frank and clear assessment of what went wrong. The culture of the BBC must be such that any proposal to mislead audiences is instantly dismissed as wholly inappropriate."
The BBC Trust has appointed Ronald Neil to carry out a longer term policy review into how and when the BBC uses premium rate services within programmes.
The report is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
(SP)