Post by Teddy Bear on Dec 24, 2008 0:19:35 GMT
Over half a million pounds in fines for the phone-in scams that the BBC has perpetrated on the public. Guess who gets to pay it - yep, the same victims that were scammed - among others.
[shadow=red,left,300][glow=red,2,300]Have a good Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, and great New Year[/glow][/shadow]
[shadow=red,left,300][glow=red,2,300]Have a good Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, and great New Year[/glow][/shadow]
BBC fined £95,000 for phone-in fakery - and conned licence payers will foot the bill
By Liz Thomas
The BBC has been fined £95,000 over faked phone-in competitions on pre-recorded radio programmes hosted by Tony Blackburn and Dermot O'Leary.
This means a total of £545,000 of licence payers' money has been spent in the past 18 months on fines relating to the corporation's editorial failures.
In the latest ruling media regulator Ofcom imposed a £70,000 fine for running phone-in competitions in eight pre-recorded Radio 2 shows hosted by O'Leary.
A further £25,000 penalty followed similar problems on five of Blackburn's BBC London programmes.
All 13 productions, which were broadcast in 2005 and 2006, were aired 'as live' with listeners encouraged to call in and enter competitions that it was impossible for them to win.
A spokesman for lobby group the Taxpayers' Alliance called on the top level executives responsible, many of whom are paid more than the Prime Minister, to pay the fine.
'It is totally unfair for licence fee payers to bear the cost of the BBC's misbehaviour,' the spokesman said.
'If there is a fine to be paid, then the executives and staff responsible for the error should pay it, not the public who were, after all, the victims in this case.
'It seems ridiculous that the very people who have suffered because of these phone-in scams are the people who will stump up to pay the fine for them.'
Ofcom was damning of the BBC, stating that it had 'repeatedly taken pre-meditated and deliberate decisions to include audience competitions in pre-recorded programmes' when it had full knowledge the audience had no chance of winning.
The corporation has been ordered to make an apology by both Ofcom and its governing body the BBC Trust.
These will be broadcast on December 20, at around 2pm on BBC London for the Blackburn programme and at 2.03pm on BBC Radio 2 for the O'Leary show.
Conservative MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the media select committee, said: 'The BBC do need to face sanctions on this.
'There clearly are still problems with phone voting. It is very clear that if the BBC is to continue to run them, it needs to make absolutely certain that they work.'
The media watchdog heavily criticised senior management at the corporation, who knew about these incidents but failed to pass on full details to the regulator because they did not think they were 'serious'.
Ofcom had to formally request full information about these 13 incidents from the BBC months after the initial round of phone in scandals in summer 2007, which hit flagship shows such as Blue Peter and Children in Need.
In a statement Ofcom said: 'It was a matter of significant concern to the committee that the BBC's senior management had taken a decision to judge the seriousness of the case, by means of its own criteria, despite knowing at the time that it involved breaches of the code, with which the broadcaster has a statutory obligation to comply. The committee found this to be wholly unacceptable.'
BBC management said it accepted the findings. It added that the 'historical breaches' had been addressed by an action plan which included training for more than 19,000 staff, a specialist unit to advise on running competitions and a 'strict new code of conduct'.
The BBC was fined £50,000 in July 2007 over a faked Blue Peter competition and a further £400,000 in July this year for numerous phone-in deceptions in shows including Comic Relief and Children in Need.
By Liz Thomas
The BBC has been fined £95,000 over faked phone-in competitions on pre-recorded radio programmes hosted by Tony Blackburn and Dermot O'Leary.
This means a total of £545,000 of licence payers' money has been spent in the past 18 months on fines relating to the corporation's editorial failures.
In the latest ruling media regulator Ofcom imposed a £70,000 fine for running phone-in competitions in eight pre-recorded Radio 2 shows hosted by O'Leary.
A further £25,000 penalty followed similar problems on five of Blackburn's BBC London programmes.
All 13 productions, which were broadcast in 2005 and 2006, were aired 'as live' with listeners encouraged to call in and enter competitions that it was impossible for them to win.
A spokesman for lobby group the Taxpayers' Alliance called on the top level executives responsible, many of whom are paid more than the Prime Minister, to pay the fine.
'It is totally unfair for licence fee payers to bear the cost of the BBC's misbehaviour,' the spokesman said.
'If there is a fine to be paid, then the executives and staff responsible for the error should pay it, not the public who were, after all, the victims in this case.
'It seems ridiculous that the very people who have suffered because of these phone-in scams are the people who will stump up to pay the fine for them.'
Ofcom was damning of the BBC, stating that it had 'repeatedly taken pre-meditated and deliberate decisions to include audience competitions in pre-recorded programmes' when it had full knowledge the audience had no chance of winning.
The corporation has been ordered to make an apology by both Ofcom and its governing body the BBC Trust.
These will be broadcast on December 20, at around 2pm on BBC London for the Blackburn programme and at 2.03pm on BBC Radio 2 for the O'Leary show.
Conservative MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the media select committee, said: 'The BBC do need to face sanctions on this.
'There clearly are still problems with phone voting. It is very clear that if the BBC is to continue to run them, it needs to make absolutely certain that they work.'
The media watchdog heavily criticised senior management at the corporation, who knew about these incidents but failed to pass on full details to the regulator because they did not think they were 'serious'.
Ofcom had to formally request full information about these 13 incidents from the BBC months after the initial round of phone in scandals in summer 2007, which hit flagship shows such as Blue Peter and Children in Need.
In a statement Ofcom said: 'It was a matter of significant concern to the committee that the BBC's senior management had taken a decision to judge the seriousness of the case, by means of its own criteria, despite knowing at the time that it involved breaches of the code, with which the broadcaster has a statutory obligation to comply. The committee found this to be wholly unacceptable.'
BBC management said it accepted the findings. It added that the 'historical breaches' had been addressed by an action plan which included training for more than 19,000 staff, a specialist unit to advise on running competitions and a 'strict new code of conduct'.
The BBC was fined £50,000 in July 2007 over a faked Blue Peter competition and a further £400,000 in July this year for numerous phone-in deceptions in shows including Comic Relief and Children in Need.
