BBC Show Fined for Fake Contest
Filed Under TV News by Skoopz
Those bloody British! The BBC network of Britain was was ordered to pay an unprecedented 50,000 pound ($100,000) fine on Monday over a faked phone-in contest on its flagship children’s TV show.
“The decision to involve a child in the deception for the sake of expediency demonstrated a casual lack of regard for the welfare of that child,” the regulator Ofcom said.
Almost 40,000 children called the “Blue Peter” premium rate phone line on November 27 last year in a competition to win a toy. They were asked to identify a character from a soap opera from a picture of his feet and an accompanying clue.
But when a technical glitch meant no winning entrant could be selected, a member of the production team asked a girl visiting the studio with her parent to pose as a winning caller.
She was given the correct answer and put on air.
Another member of the public visiting the studio on the same day saw what happened and blew the whistle in March this year.
The BBC said it regretted that Ofcom found it necessary to impose a fine. It was the first time Ofcom had imposed a financial penalty on the public service broadcaster.
Tags: BBC Britain, BBC fake contest
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