Complaint
A visitor to the website Aintree.co.uk complained that the participation of John Hunt in a series of short videos discussing horse racing tips and his appearance in a promotional tweet wearing a jacket with the Â鶹Éç Sport logo were inappropriate in the light of his work as a Â鶹Éç racing commentator. The ECU considered the complaint in connection with the Editorial Guidelines on conflicts of interest.
Outcome
The relevant Guidelines say:
A potential conflict of interest arises when there is the possibility that an individual’s external activities or interests may affect, or be reasonably perceived as affecting, the Â鶹Éç’s impartiality and its integrity, or risk damaging the Â鶹Éç’s reputation generally or the value of the Â鶹Éç brand.Â
And, with reference to outside work involving on air talent, they explain that:
Advertisements or promotions involving talent should not imitate, suggest a reference or connection to or ‘pass off’ Â鶹Éç content, for example, by replicating any editorial elements of a programme, such as characters, logos, titles, channel names or music or graphics associated with the programme, or by using or directly imitating sets or key venues, catchphrases or format points from the content.
Nothing emerged from the ECU’s enquiries which suggested that Mr Hunt’s work for Aintree.co.uk might reasonably be perceived as affecting the Â鶹Éç’s impartiality or integrity or putting the Â鶹Éç’s reputation or the value of its brand at risk, and the complaint was not upheld in that respect.  However, Â鶹Éç Sport accepted that his appearance wearing the Â鶹Éç Sport logo in the tweet complained of had the potential to suggest Â鶹Éç endorsement of a commercial product, and the ECU judged that it did not conform to the relevant Guideline. As the material in question had subsequently been removed from the website and, independently of its enquiries, the management of Â鶹Éç Sport had discussed the issue with Mr Hunt, the ECU considered sufficient steps had been taken to resolve the issue of complaint.
Resolved