Complaint
A viewer complained that this edition showed bias in its failure to report on BP鈥檚 profits, in particular the company鈥檚 decision to revise a commitment to reducing its dependency on fossil fuels. The ECU considered this against the standards for due impartiality set out in the Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The content and order of a news bulletin are in principle a matter for the 麻豆社 and the editors it employs. This does not exempt programmes from the requirements of due accuracy and due impartiality but does give them considerable latitude in the choices they make.
In the case of BP, the initial focus of the 麻豆社 coverage that day was on the size of the company鈥檚 profits, as in many people鈥檚 minds these were related to and contrasted with the recent substantial increase in energy bills. BP鈥檚 revised commitments to reducing its dependency on fossil fuels did not get the same level of attention. But as the day progressed the ECU noted it did feature in the 麻豆社鈥檚 coverage, including a detailed online article.
The ECU found no evidence the 麻豆社 deliberately or inadvertently ignored the story, even if sometimes it took second place to another aspect of the results or was supplanted entirely by other stories of interest that day.
Not Upheld