Complaint
The programme included a discussion prompted by the publication of Government guidelines on dealing with “commemorative heritage assets that have become contested”. A viewer complained that it presented an unbalanced view, with no-one speaking in defence of Government policy and no appropriate challenge by the presenter to contentious views expressed by guests. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
Government policy (to “retain and explain”, rather than remove, contested items) was clearly set out by the presenter and supported in some respects by one of the guests. In the context, this was sufficient to maintain impartiality. The instance cited by the complainant as requiring challenge was the statement by one of the guests that it would not be possible “to present a balanced view of slavery, of imperial conquest” in a short plaque. The ECU judged that, in the context of this short discussion, the statement would have been understood by viewers in general as offering an opinion rather than asserting a fact, and that considerations of impartiality did not require the presenter to challenge it.
Not Upheld