BBC News (6pm), BBC One, 2 February 2023

Complaint

The bulletin included a report on the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to drop charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault against the footballer Mason Greenwood “after a key witness withdrew their involvement”.  A viewer complained it was misleading to mention only one reason for the decision when the CPS had given two (the other being the emergence of new evidence).  The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.


Outcome

The CPS had given no information about the nature of the new evidence, so it was not possible for the programme-makers to judge its significance for the decision-making process.  As the evidence of a particular witness was crucial in the case, its relevance to the decision-making process was clear, and it was not a requirement of accuracy in these circumstances to refer also to the emergence of new evidence.
Not upheld