Complaint
A viewer complained a report on housing was biased because it failed to explain the underlying reason why new houses are needed is because of increased immigration. The ECU considered whether the report met the standards of due impartiality set out in the Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The report looked at the demand for housing and why the UK was not building enough new homes to meet that demand. It explained some of the factors which have limited the number of new homes under construction but made clear history indicates government intervention is usually required to ensure sufficient supply.
In the ECU鈥檚 judgement viewers would have recognised the main issue for the housing sector is there are too few homes to meet demand but also some of the reasons private companies have been reluctant to undertake major new housing projects. It was open to the programme to mention demand pressures on both the owner occupied and rented sector but the omission of such information did not amount to evidence of a lack of impartiality given the limited and stated scope of the piece.
The ECU noted there were numerous reasons why demand had gone up for housing including rising life expectancy, with evidence limited to support the complainant鈥檚 assertion that the underlying reason why new houses are required is because of increased immigration.
Not Upheld