The BBC was ordered to pay an unprecedented £50,000 fine today after asking a child from its Blue Peter studio audience to pose as the “fake” winner of a premium-rate telephone competition, in which 40,000 youngsters had participated.
In what was its first fine ever given to the corporation, the media regulator Ofcom issued a damning verdict stating that it was guilty of “deception” and of making the child “complicit” in its fraud.
The judgment relates to a scandal in which children telephoned in on November 27 last year in order to win a toy. Viewers had been asked to identify Bradley Branning, the EastEnders character, from a picture of his feet and an accompanying clue.
However, when a technical glitch meant no winning entrant could be selected, a member of the production team instead asked a girl visiting the studio with her parent to pose as a winning caller. She was given the correct answer and put on air.
The girl was told to say she was “calling from London”. However she was, in fact, in the same studio as the presenters. Another member of the public visiting the studio on the same day observed what had taken place and blew the whistle in March this year.
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Handing down its verdict, Ofcom’s sanctions committee today said that the corporation breached two key rules: that competitions should be conducted fairly, and that due care must be taken over the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen who take part, or are involved, in programmes.
“The committee was conscious that the imposition of a financial penalty on the BBC was unprecedented,” a statement said.
“However, in all the circumstances, and weighing all these matters carefully, the committee considered that these were serious breaches of the code by a public service broadcaster resulting, as they did, in the deception of the audience, including child participants who paid to enter the competition.
“The breaches involved a pre-planned decision to fake a winner in the interests of ensuring the smooth running of a programme, and in doing so made a child complicit in events leading to the deception.
“There were also a series of serious and avoidable management and compliance failures before, during and after the breaches occurred.”
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When the scandal hit the headlines in March Richard Deverell, the BBC children’s controller, had originally claimed that he was “satisfied that there was no premeditated attempt to deceive or mislead viewers”.
However, this claim was also rejected by Ofcom, who said that the deception had been pre-planned. “The breaches had occurred as a result of a decision that was planned in advance of the programme’s broadcast - albeit only shortly before it,” its judgment said.
“It was the committee’s view that the breaches had not therefore occurred by ‘accident’ or as a result of a misjudgment by a programme maker in an area which required fine editorial judgment or discretion.
“This was material which should not, in any circumstances, have been either produced or transmitted.”
Ofcom said that the BBC had been fined £45,000 for the initial incident - but also given a further £5,000 penalty because the programme was later repeated in full, including the falsified competition, on the children’s channel CBBC. Although a caption was displayed stating that competition lines were now closed, the telephone number was still visible and lines still open, prompting a further 3,500 calls.
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The fine is the first ever given by Ofcom to the BBC since the regulator was given jurisdiction over the public service broadcaster in 2003.
In a fresh statement apologising for misleading viewers, the BBC said today: “We regret that Ofcom found it necessary to impose a fine. As our previous statements have made clear, we fully accept the seriousness of this case and apologise for the breach of trust with our audiences.”
The tough Ofcom judgment comes days after the company behind the Richard and Judy premium rate telephone quiz scandal was hit with a record £150,000 fine.
Icstis, the premium rate services regulator, imposed the penalty on Eckoh UK Ltd last week, and demanded that refunds were paid to all those affected. It came after viewers were urged to call in to the show, even though potential winners had already been chosen.
This case has now also been referred to Ofcom, which has launched a separate investigation.