BBC fined

From Times Online:

The BBC was ordered to pay an unprecedented £50,000 fine today after asking a child from its Blue Peter studio audience to pose as the "fake" winner of a premium-rate telephone competition, in which 40,000 youngsters had participated.

In what was its first fine ever given to the corporation, the media regulator Ofcom issued a damning verdict stating that it was guilty of "deception" and of making the child "complicit" in its fraud.

“The breaches involved a pre-planned decision to fake a winner in the interests of ensuring the smooth running of a programme, and in doing so made a child complicit in events leading to the deception."

“There were also a series of serious and avoidable management and compliance failures before, during and after the breaches occurred.”

BBC response? From its press release:

We fully accept the seriousness of this case and apologise for the breach of trust with our audiences.

We regret that Ofcom found it necessary to impose a fine on the BBC.

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