LONDON (AFP) –
The BBC's governing body on Friday blasted the corporation for broadcasting a lewd phone prank -- but backed the decision not to sack the institution's highest-paid star Jonathan Ross over the affair.
Repeated editorial judgement failures had allowed offensive material to be broadcast in a number of programmes, said the BBC Trust, which oversees the corporation on behalf of the licence fee-paying public.
It found the worst incident was the airing of answer-phone messages for veteran actor Andrew Sachs left by stars Ross and Russell Brand on the latter's radio show, which caused a recent scandal.
Both were suspended and comedian Brand, 33, later resigned.
Television and radio presenter Ross, 48, is the publicly-funded BBC's highest-paid star, with an 18-million-pound three-year deal.
The answer-phone messages included Ross revealing that Brand had had sex with Sachs's granddaughter and suggestions that the 78-year-old -- who played Spanish waiter Manuel in hit 1970s television comedy "Fawlty Towers" -- might hang himself as a result.
The BBC Trust said there was no editorial justification for airing the messages, describing the decision as an "unacceptable and deplorable intrusion" into the private lives of Sachs and his 23-year-old granddaughter Georgina Baillie, a burlesque dancer.
However, trust chairman Michael Lyons said: "We are very clear that the director-general (Mark Thompson) has taken the right action with respect to Jonathan Ross."
In criticising the broadcasting of offensive material, Lyons attacked a "failure of editorial judgement, often by very senior people within the BBC."
"We have challenged the director-general, as well as following through the personnel decisions which have already been made, with ensuring for us and the public that all senior managers understand their responsibilities and have a common understanding of what the editorial guidelines require of them."
The BBC management said it accepted the trust's findings "in full".
"In particular we will consider carefully the BBC Trust's ruling on the use of language and audience expectations," it said in a statement.
The row is the latest in a string of embarrassments for the BBC. In July it was fined 400,000 pounds after a string of shows rigged competitions to choose winners.
In another case senior BBC staff were suspended after a trailer for a BBC1 documentary wrongly implied that Queen Elizabeth II had stormed out of a sitting with top US photographer Annie Leibovitz.
World news: BBC governors back decision to keep top star despite lewd
LONDON (AFP) – The BBC's governing body on Friday blasted the corporation for broadcastin...
Sunday 05 July 2009
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