Complaint
The programme dealt with the issue of who should be allowed access to single-sex spaces, such as toilets. Two listeners complained that it did so without including any contributors who were able to speak with authority about the concerns of women seeking to protect single-sex spaces. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The failure to reflect an appropriate range of views on this controversial issue was a clear breach of the BBC’s standards of impartiality. Before the complaints reached the ECU, however, BBC England had acknowledged the failing in a post on the Corrections and Clarifications page of bbc.co.uk and removed the programme from BBC Sounds. In addition the station is introducing a new requirement for senior managers to be consulted when there is any proposal to cover a significant or controversial issue, to ensure an appropriate range of relevant views is always included, and meetings are being held with editorial staff to reinforce the need for compliance with the relevant BBC standards. In the ECU’s judgement these actions are sufficient to resolve the issue of complaint.
Resolved