£106,000 mantido BBC do dinheiro do charity

Sexta-feira, maio 9o, 2008

Por Leigh Holmwood | O BBC desculpou-se hoje mantendo £106,000 feito do telefone da superior-taxa convida aproximadamente duas mostras dúzia que devem ter sido dadas ao charity.

No scandal o mais atrasado para bater a indústria da televisão sobre o telefone-ins, o BBC admitiu também que os visores de fazer sua mente acima, BBC1 a mostra que escolheu a entrada BRITÂNICA do ano passado para a competição da canção de Eurovision, Scooch, misled em votar antes que as linhas de telefone abriram. Nesse caso, o BBC fêz £6,000 das chamadas inelegíveis que foi também ao charity.

O presidente da confiança de BBC, senhor Michael Lyons, disse hoje que o dinheiro tinha sido reembolsado agora ao charity, including a totalização £123,000 do interesse.

A confiança requisitou também o BBC para fazer onscreen o apology - a primeira vez que o governance e o corpo regulatory do corporaçõ impuseram tal sanction.

Lyons disse que a edição envolveu o BBC Audiocall subsidiário Worldwide, que fornece linhas de telefone da superior-taxa a muitas mostras de BBC.

Adicionou aquele aproximadamente que duas mostras dúzia tinham sido afetadas entre outubro 2005 e setembro 2007, embora recusasse os nomear.

A tecnologia nova dita de Lyons tinha sido introduzida desde que significou que o problema tinha sido resolvido.

A confiança pediu que o director-geral de BBC, marca Thompson, olhe disciplinando um “punhado” da equipe de funcionários.

Lyons fêz-lhe o espaço livre que a equipe de funcionários sênior dentro de BBC Worldwide e do corporaçõ não soube sobre o problema e nem staff quem trabalhou nos programas afetados.

Adicionou que não soube porque a equipe de funcionários em Audiocall não relatou a edição.

Lyons disse: “Não há nenhum impropriety legal mas é uma falha no comportamento destes equipe de funcionários e sistemas do BBC próprios.

“Era uma matéria do misjudgment sério por um pequeno número de povos e de uma falha séria em como o BBC controla seus FOTORRECEPTORES [serviços de telefone da superior-taxa] e seu relacionamento com visores e eleitores.

“Estes problemas não podem continuar no futuro e há umas lições a ser aprendidas e a ação disciplinary pode ocorrer amongst a equipe de funcionários.”

Adicionou: “Não há nenhum quarto para o complacency aqui. Esta é uma intenção da organização em viver pelos padrões os mais elevados na indústria.”

Estes revelations os mais atrasados do deception da tevê seguem o registro £5.675m imposto muito bem em ITV ontem por Ofcom sobre o scandal phone-in do radiodifusor comercial.

In an email to staff, Thompson described the situation as a “serious oversight”.

But he said there was “no evidence” of any “impropriety or intention to defraud”, adding that the £106,000 represented only 1.3% of the approximately £8m raised for charity through BBC telephone votes during the relevant period.

“All the money has been paid to the charities involved, with interest,” Thompson added. “The oversight has been remedied. Clearly, this must never be allowed to happen again.”

He said that while the new incidents were “disappointing”, they were both “historical’.

“We’re confident that the measures we’ve put in place mean they won’t happen again,” Thompson added.

“The whole BBC has made enormous progress on the topic of trust over the past nine months, a fact backed up by all of our surveys of the public themselves.

“We need to go on doing everything possible to restore fully the public’s trust in us. But we’ve made real progress on that score, while delivering some spectacular creative successes and starting to make our vision of the BBC’s future a reality.”The BBC today apologised for keeping £106,000 made from premium-rate phone calls on about two dozen shows that should have been given to charity.

In the latest scandal to hit the television industry over phone-ins, the BBC also admitted that viewers of Making Your Mind Up, the BBC1 show that chose last year’s UK entry for the Eurovision song contest, Scooch, were misled into voting before phone lines had opened. In that case, the BBC made £6,000 from ineligible calls that has also gone to charity.

The BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, today said that the money had now been repaid to charity, including interest totalling £123,000.

The trust has also ordered the BBC to make an onscreen apology - the first time the corporation’s governance and regulatory body has imposed such a sanction.

Lyons said the issue involved the BBC Worldwide subsidiary Audiocall, which provides premium-rate phone lines to many BBC shows.

He added that about two dozen shows had been affected between October 2005 and September 2007, although he refused to name them.

Lyons said new technology had since been introduced which meant the problem had been resolved.

The trust has asked the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, to look at disciplining a “handful” of staff.

Lyons made it clear that senior staff within BBC Worldwide and the corporation did not know about the problem and nor did staff who worked on the affected programmes.

He added that he did not know why staff at Audiocall did not report the issue.

Lyons said: “There is no legal impropriety but it is a failure in the behaviour of these staff and the BBC’s own systems.

“It was a matter of serious misjudgment by a small number of people and a serious failing in how the BBC controls its PRS [premium-rate phone services] and its relationship with viewers and voters.

“These problems can’t continue into the future and there are lessons to be learned and disciplinary action may take place amongst staff.”

He added: “There is no room for complacency here. This is an organisation intent on living by the highest standards in the industry.”

These latest TV deception revelations follow the record £5.675m fine imposed on ITV yesterday by Ofcom over the commercial broadcaster’s phone-in scandal.