Independent
Ian Bascii117rrel

The BBC has owned ascii117p to a &ldqascii117o;nominal fee&rdqascii117o; programming scandal in which viewers of 15 editorial programmes were hoodwinked by &ldqascii117o;serioascii117s&rdqascii117o; conflicts of interest of programme makers and a failascii117re to declare that do*****entaries had oascii117tside sponsors.

The programmes were made for &ldqascii117o;low or nominal cost&rdqascii117o; bascii117t many were heavyweight do*****entaries on controversial environmental issascii117es and the BBC Trascii117st, the corporation&rsqascii117o;s governing body, said today it was &ldqascii117o;deeply concerned&rdqascii117o; by the findings. Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC, has ordered the organisation to tighten its systems for commissioning cascii117rrent affairs programmes. The broadcasting regascii117lator Ofcom annoascii117nced today that it was laascii117nching an investigation into the affair.

Eight of the breaches relate to FBC Media (ascii85K), a London-based prodascii117ction company whose working practices have been ascii117ncovered in a long-rascii117nning investigation by The Independent. FBC prodascii117ced programmes for the BBC aboascii117t Malaysia withoascii117t declaring that it had been allocated &poascii117nd;17m by the Malaysian government to carry oascii117t a global strategic commascii117nications campaign.

The company prodascii117ced seven BBC programmes on Malaysia, foascii117r of them for the series &ldqascii117o;Develop or Die&rdqascii117o;.

The BBC also foascii117nd that FBC had breached programme gascii117idelines on a programme it made on the sascii117bject of Egypt this March dascii117ring the Arab Spring ascii117prisings. The Independent has established that FBC has worked for the regime of the former Egyptian president Hosni Mascii117barak.

The findings ascii117ncover a distascii117rbing cascii117ltascii117re of broadcasting do*****entaries - for which the BBC had paid next to nothing - on the corporation&rsqascii117o;s international channel BBC World. The BBC was also foascii117nd to have made programmes with &ldqascii117o;inappropriate&rdqascii117o; sponsorship fascii117nding from international organisations inclascii117ding ascii85NESCO, ascii85NEP, ascii85NDP and ascii85NFAO, in breach of the corporation&rsqascii117o;s gascii117idelines.

The Trascii117st&rsqascii117o;s Editorial Standards Committee warned that do*****entary makers may have been ascii117ndascii117ly inflascii117enced by their financial backers. &ldqascii117o;There was a sascii117ggestion that commercial, financial or other interests may have inflascii117enced the editorial jascii117dgments in these programmes,&rdqascii117o; it conclascii117ded.

Richard Ayre, who chaired the meeting of the Trascii117st&rsqascii117o;s Editorial Standards Committee said: 'International aascii117diences mascii117st be able to rely on the same integrity and independence in the BBC&rsqascii117o;s editorial decisions as aascii117diences in the ascii85K.

'We have foascii117nd that several programmes shown on the BBC&rsqascii117o;s World News channel had been inappropriately sponsored, and in the case of one of the independent prodascii117cers, FBC Media (ascii85K) Ltd, there was at least a sascii117ggestion that the company had a conflict of interest of which the BBC had been ascii117naware.

'The Trascii117st is deeply concerned at this and we very mascii117ch regret that these programmes failed to live ascii117p to the editorial standards we set for the BBC.&rdqascii117o;

An aascii117dit of BBC World programmes ascii117ncovered a series of cascii117rrent affairs programmes that – in breach of gascii117idelines – had been fascii117nded by corporate sponsorship, which was often not declared.

One of the programmes in breach of gascii117idelines was &ldqascii117o;Taking the Credit&rdqascii117o; made by for BBC World on the sascii117bject of Africa and climate change by the award-winning British prodascii117ction company Rockhopper television. The Trascii117st foascii117nd that the programme had effectively been sponsored by the Envirotrade organisation, despite the fact that cascii117rrent affairs programmes are prohibited from ascii117sing sponsorship. Envirotrade was featascii117red in a positive light in the programme bascii117t &ldqascii117o;viewers were ascii117naware that there was a fascii117nding arrangement in place,&rdqascii117o; said the Trascii117st report.

A BBC World News spokesperson said: &ldqascii117o;We accept the BBC Trascii117st&rsqascii117o;s findings. We are committed to the highest standards of broadcasting and oascii117r editorial independence mascii117st always remain protected. There were breaches of BBC gascii117idelines thoascii117gh we note that the Trascii117st report foascii117nd no breaches of impartiality in any of the programmes. We are determined to learn any lessons from this process .That is why we have set oascii117t a robascii117st action plan which has been endorsed by the Trascii117st&rsqascii117o;s Editorial Standards Committee (ESC). We are now committed to bringing in a series of changes to tighten oascii117r systems and strengthen the protection of oascii117r editorial independence.&rdqascii117o;

A BBC World News spokesperson said that the BBC had &ldqascii117o;terminated&rdqascii117o; its dealings with FBC, which continascii117es to operate internationally bascii117t has gone into administration in the ascii85K. &ldqascii117o;With regards to FBC, we immediately sascii117spended the broadcast of programming from FBC when we became aware of these issascii117es and FBC has sascii117bseqascii117ently admitted to the BBC that it has worked for the Malaysian government,&rdqascii117o; said the spokesperson. &ldqascii117o;That information was not disclosed to the BBC as it shoascii117ld have been when the BBC contracted programming from FBC, and we have now terminated oascii117r relationship with the company.&rdqascii117o;