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Ofcom decision on Blue Peter – ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trust statement

Date: 09.07.2007     Last updated: 23.09.2014 at 09.53
"The errors which occurred around the Blue Peter programme on 27 November last year were particularly serious as they resulted in children being misled to participate in a competition they had no chance of winning and in a child in the studio being involved in deceiving the audience.



"Ofcom has been given powers by Parliament to fine the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ if Ofcom finds that a breach of its Standards Code has been serious. Ofcom has exercised that power in this instance.

"The Trust expects ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management to continue to demonstrate a commitment to learning from these breaches: we were pleased by the management's swift response when the errors came to light and its frank and clear assessment of what went wrong. The culture of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ must be such that any proposal to mislead audiences is instantly dismissed as wholly inappropriate.

"Ronald Neil has been commissioned by the Trust to carry out a longer term policy review into how and when the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ uses premium rate services within programmes which is due to report by the end of the year."