BBC In Crisis Over Faked Sweatshop Scene In Documentary

The Independent:

BBC journalism was plunged into one of its deepest crises since the Hutton report of 2004 yesterday, when the governing BBC Trust questioned the authenticity of footage broadcast by its flagship programme Panorama in an investigation into the ethical standards of the fashion giant Primark.

The director of BBC News Helen Boaden went on the broadcaster's news channel yesterday to apologise after the Trust found that "on the balance of probabilities", footage broadcast in 2008 claiming to show Primark using child labour in India "was not authentic".

Ms Boaden told viewers the Trust ruling was "very, very serious" and "extremely chastening". She said: "No one could take it more seriously than I do and I know that the Current Affairs team will be looking at their processes in future."

Read the whole story: The Independent

Comments

[FoxIslander]

04:37 PM on 06/20/2011

Yes even the Beeb can make a mistake, however that won't stop me from watching/ reading. Unbiased, well researched journalism presented by a news reader...no achor worship...as opposed to...well...any network here.

[Euges]

10:00 PM on 06/19/2011

Please BBC, don't go the Fox/MSNBC way......I only have you at night, with NPR during the day (CNN isn't too bad yet, but have you seen HLN lately?)

[JoeDGoy]

09:27 PM on 06/19/2011

Thankfully FOX is doing great! #1!

[gc 99]

02:40 PM on 06/19/2011

BBC is a colonial legacy that Britain still uses to push its propaganda, "Punch above its weight," as their current PM said. Their anti-India bias is well known to most Indians. Its about time world woke up to reality.

[deluk]

03:25 AM on 06/21/2011

Oh cr@p.

[Catriona]

06:44 AM on 06/21/2011

Quite.

[sabelmouse]

11:17 AM on 06/21/2011

i can't get there . what about ireland and germany ?

[UKLib]

01:53 PM on 06/19/2011

The BBC is far from in any kind of 'crisis.'

The BBCis a huge organisation in radio, television and online media, and the producers of one single programme, in this case Panorama, have little to no impact on public opinion of the service.

The BBC is quite literally the only news source that the world trusts. It may be state funded, but it passes the ultimate test in that it is frequently the most prominent challenger to British government. See David Kelly the 'sexed up' dossier for one recent case.

[Erewhon7]

11:09 AM on 06/19/2011

Majority of headline pics on this site are faked.
See "CLERICS SPEAK OUT headline pic as an example.
Question: is the BBC setting the bargain basemen standard, or they're simply fallen as low as the rest of the yellow media?

[Catriona]

06:45 AM on 06/21/2011

"Majority of headline pics on this site are faked.
See "CLERICS SPEAK OUT headline pic as an example.
Question: is the BBC setting the bargain basemen standard, or they're simply fallen as low as the rest of the yellow media?"

This site is the BBC? Well, live and learn. /snark/

[mamacat]

04:53 AM on 06/19/2011

God bless the BBC. My own TV watching experience would be much poorer without them.

[CtrlClick]

12:11 AM on 06/19/2011

How many people have read the article before commenting?

".....the Trust found that "on the balance of probabilities", footage broadcast in 2008 claiming to show Primark using child labour in India "was not authentic".

The company argued that the clip wasn’t authentic and the programme makers couldn’t prove beyond doubt it was.

How many American Networks have this level or scrutiny?

[wmerr58523]

08:00 PM on 06/18/2011

Listen, this is the left media and no matter which country it comes from they lie to get ratings which is why they are all failing no matter who is pulling the strings (G.E., Disney, or whoever owns the B.B.C.).
Face it, the days of good reporting died in the 60's.

[Krek]

08:10 PM on 06/18/2011

"...or whoever owns the B.B.C"

Clueless.

[mamacat]

05:00 AM on 06/19/2011

When caught lying, Fox News just shrugs it off, and states that they are not legally obligated to either tell the truth, or to make an effort to tell the truth.

The BBC, meanwhile, gets castigated because they can not prove, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that a shot they took is in fact what they claim it is. There is no proof that the shot is faked, but there is a standard up to which they are held, which says that they must prove that anything they say, or show, is 100% factual.

This is the double standard which we are stuck with today; the Right intentionally spreads lies and disinformation, and the Left is told to apologize for telling the truth.

[ThinkCreeps]

08:18 AM on 06/19/2011

Yes, but the BBC is not `the left'.

[Greg2000]

10:48 AM on 06/19/2011

One word: shame.

One has some basic human decency, the other has none. I'll say that again, Rupert Murdoch, by any stretch of the imagination, can't lay an egg like Fauxnews in his native Australia or the UK where almost all his relatives live.

[obelis]

01:29 PM on 06/18/2011

Big Bold Conmen

[Observer111]

01:00 PM on 06/18/2011

This is typical for BBC and western mass media....most of info on Libya and Syria from the zombiebox has nothing to do with reality...it comes straight from the Joint US/UK Ministry of Propaganda

[ThinkCreeps]

08:19 AM on 06/19/2011

Not observing much are you? Have you seen Jeremy Bowen reporting from Libya?

[Greg2000]

11:12 AM on 06/18/2011

If we Americans call this a crisis with a straight face, how do we describe Fauxnews and the right wing f il th?

[Sirlarek]

01:39 PM on 06/18/2011

Exactly....you can't. This has been apart of American journalism for eons.

[Jack Daniels Esq]

10:28 AM on 06/18/2011

Quest was a BBC fruit, then did the uber-gay walk in the Park @ 0300 thingy for CNN

[Jack Daniels Esq]

10:18 AM on 06/18/2011

BBC is paid for by UK tax - it could not exist on its own merits & Clarkson is a stooge

[Sirlarek]

01:42 PM on 06/18/2011

Good point. Which indicates that it isn't manipulated by corporate interests. It does have an arms length agreement that gets called into question periodically, but usually only from those in the pockets of a corporatist bent.

You actually prove the argument against yourself.

[Jack Daniels Esq]

04:23 PM on 06/18/2011

Rube Goldberg logic is so passe

[Paul Houston]

04:08 PM on 06/18/2011

The BBC is not funded by tax, it is funded by a license fee charged on the ownership of tv's

[Jack Daniels Esq]

04:25 PM on 06/18/2011

Y'all need a license to operate a TV in UK ....?

[Elrancho2]

09:43 AM on 06/18/2011

As bad as this is, compared to the sewer that is Fox News, the BBC is a lake of sparkling spring water.