BBC breached Ofcom rules over Alex Salmond report error by Sarah Smith

Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has ruled that the BBC made a “significant error” in a television report that was not confirmed and corrected on air.

The injury came in a headline clip of BBC Scotland editor Sarah Smith presenting evidence from Alex Salmond to a Holyrood committee.

She wrongly said the former First Secretary believed his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, should resign.

The BBC said it accepts the decision and will “consider the results”.

Ofcom, which launched its investigation after it was broadcast on BBC News at Six on February 26 last year, also criticized the company’s complaints system.

Mr Salmond’s testimony before a committee of MSPs tasked with investigating the Scottish Government’s botched handling of allegations of harassment against him was the lead story on the BBC’s main news that evening.

Sarah Smith, who is now the BBC’s North America Editor, told the audience: “Alex Salmond said he believed Nicola Sturgeon had misled Parliament and broken the Ministerial Code, which he believed meant she should resign. “

However, the former First Minister had said he had “no doubts” that Ms Sturgeon broke the code but that “it is not up to me to decide what the consequences of that should be”.

The mistake was not corrected in the program, but later that evening, Smith tweeted that she made the mistake. She wrote: “I would like to clarify that Mr Salmond did not say that the First Minister should resign.”

During its deliberations, Ofcom examined two areas of its code of conduct. It focused on whether the headline was correct, rule 5.1, and whether, if there was an inaccuracy, it was quickly corrected on the air, rule 5.2.

The BBC told the regulator it accepted the report was not “reasonably accurate” and failed to comply with Rule 5.1.

However, it said it had taken appropriate action to mitigate the error by clarifying on the BBC’s ten o’clock news that Mr Salmond had stopped asking Ms Sturgeon to leave.

And in addition:

Ofcom said it recognized that Twitter and website corrections and clarifications have a place “to reach some viewers”.

But it added: “The purpose of an on-air fix is ​​so that significant errors can be corrected quickly for the likely audience exposed to the original error.”

“Given the importance of the error in this case, we felt that an on-air correction, planned quickly and appropriately, was required to comply with Rule 5.2. This did not take place.”

The communications watchdog has now urged the BBC to amend its editorial guidelines to “make it clearer” that significant errors on the air are quickly corrected.

It also said the case raised issues with the channel’s complaints procedure, which it intends to investigate further.

The report states: “The issue of the BBC’s transparency in relation to the content of decisions taken by the ECU (Executive Complaints Unit) is a matter we are currently examining as part of our review of the BBC’s regulation by Ofcom, who inform becomes the BBC’s mid-charter review conducted by the UK government.

“In our consultation to initiate our review, we stated that we would consider how the BBC could improve its transparency in decision-making and the handling of complaints, including in relation to the required level of impartiality.”

Following Monday’s verdict, the BBC said it accepted the decision.

“We are absolutely committed to transparency when it comes to complaints and always try to resolve any issues as quickly as possible,” it said.

“We will consider the results and of course if we can do more to explain how we make our judgments on complaints then we will look into it.”