Complaint
This bulletin included a contribution from Chris Packham, who was critical of the sentences imposed on five environmental activists recently convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. A listener complained that, as Mr Packham was “a direct employee of the BBC”, his contribution was in effect an endorsement by the BBC of one side in a matter of controversy. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
Mr Packham, who was introduced in the bulletin as a “wildlife TV presenter and campaigner”, is not on the staff of the BBC, and he presents programmes for broadcasters other than the BBC, so there was no basis for regarding him as expressing a view on behalf of the BBC on this occasion and no breach of the BBC’s standards of impartiality.
Not Upheld