BBC“名譽掃地”BBC gets a year to clean up

BBC“名譽掃地”

英國有近半數報章今天都以英國廣播公司BBC“造假”聲譽受損的消息放在頭版的位置。

《每日電訊報》頭版的三張照片是BBC三個“造假”節目的中心人物，標題是“BBC因為欺騙行為蒙羞”。

報道說，在BBC承認一系列接聽聽眾電話的兒童以及慈善節目蓄意欺騙觀眾後，BBC面對重大的公眾信任危機。BBC總裁湯普森已經下令，暫停播放所有電視和電台的電話問答競賽節目。

《金融時報》報道說，BBC要求公司16,500名參與廣播節目的雇員上職業操守的課程。

《每日郵報》的標題是“BBC的羞恥”。報道說，BBC承認“經常欺騙”公眾，這使BBC“信譽掃地”。事件將可能導致警方介入作欺詐調查以及前所未有的罰款。


《泰晤士報》報道說，“救助兒童”(Children In Need)以及“喜劇救助”(Comic Relief)的製作人將被停職。這兩個慈善節目的電話問答遊戲競賽的得獎者都是找人冒充的。

《每日鏡報》與《太陽報》的標題都用上了“作弊”(cheat)這個詞，來突顯出問題的中心所在。



BBC gets a year to clean up


Matt Wells
Thursday July 19, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk

The chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, today gave the corporation a year to clean up its act after a week of revelations about faked TV scenes and rigged phone competitions.

Amid a welter of damaging newspaper headlines, Sir Michael backed the director general, Mark Thompson, for now but said the trust would "suspend judgment" until there were clear signs of improvement in editorial standards.

The Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, is to meet the BBC Trust soon to "urgently discuss" the next regulatory move following the corporation's decision to suspend all phone-ins and interactive competitions.

Mr Richards said he planned to "work with the BBC Trust" to discuss "appropriate solutions" to the problems of viewer trust in British television.

Sir Michael, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, denied the BBC Trust had been slower to react than Ofcom. He said there was no question of the trust being "asleep on the job".

Asked by presenter John Humphrys whether the trust had the power to sack people, he said: "We certainly have the power to appoint the chairman of the executive of the board, who is the director general. Other appointments are the responsibility of the director general and the executive board."

Pressed about whether heads would roll, he added: "Decisions about disciplinary action are for Mark Thompson. We will be watching very carefully to make sure appropriate sanctions are applied once the full facts are known."

Today's papers make grim reading for the BBC. The Sun calls the BBC "cheats" in its front-page headline, and the Daily Mail talks of the "shaming of the BBC".

Amid the welter of criticism, Sir Michael backed Mr Thompson. "Our judgment at the moment is that he has responded to these very serious issues with energy. He's the right person to lead change at the BBC."

Sir Michael - speaking from New Zealand - said he did not want to "create a sense of panic", but underlined the seriousness of the situation.

"Any question of deceit has to be ruled out as unacceptable. Our focus is on putting things right and we're backing the director general to do that. But we suspend judgment until we see improvements."

He wanted clear signs of improvement in a year. Expectations of the BBC are "much higher" than other broadcasters, he conceded.

Ofcom yesterday published a report into premium-rate telephone services that found "systemic failures" in how all broadcasters managed programmes.

Richard Ayre, the former BBC new deputy who compiled the report, said some broadcasters were "in denial" about the scale of the problem.