BRITAIN:The BBC was ordered to pay an unprecedented £50,000 fine yesterday over a faked phone-in contest on its flagship children's TV show.
The BBC was guilty of serious breaches of the broadcasting code by allowing a young studio guest to pose as a fake competition winner on the programme Blue Peter, the regulator Ofcom ruled.
When the scandal of the faked contest was first reported in March, the show's presenters apologised to viewers on air, a huge embarrassment for a show loved by generations of British children. In its ruling, Ofcom's sanctions committee said the BBC was guilty of deception and making a child complicit in its scam.
"The decision to involve a child in the deception for the sake of expediency demonstrated a casual lack of regard for the welfare of that child," Ofcom said.
Almost 40,000 children called the Blue Peter premium rate phone line on November 27th last year in a competition to win a toy. They were asked to identify a character from a soap opera.
But when a technical glitch meant no winning entrant could be selected, a member of the production team asked a girl visiting the studio with her parent to pose as a winning caller. - ( Reuters)