Category: 91Èȱ¬
Date: 25.11.2005
Printable version
91Èȱ¬ Governors have today published the findings for their Programme Complaints Committee for the period 1 July to 30 September 2005 (quarter three).
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The Governors' Programme Complaints Committee (GPCC) is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of complaints handling by the 91Èȱ¬, including hearing appeals from complainants who are not happy with the responses they have received from 91Èȱ¬ management.
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Speaking in the foreword to the bulletin, Richard Tait, Chairman of the GPCC, said: "We review the programme or online content against the 91Èȱ¬'s editorial values and guidelines, and make a judgement on whether or not the content concerned breaches the standards set out."
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In this bulletin the GPCC has published findings on 27 appeals, of which one appeal was upheld in full and two were upheld in part.
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A majority of findings in the bulletin concern complaints about the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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This is a highly controversial area of international news which attracts a good deal of comment from all sides of the debate.
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Separate to any specific complaint about the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage of this topic, earlier this year the Board of Governors commissioned a review of the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as part of its programme of annual impartiality reviews.
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The review will be published in spring 2006.
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Notes to Editors
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This bulletin provides a summary of the findings reached by the GPCC between July and September.
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Of these findings one appeal was upheld in full and two were upheld in part.
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The bulletin also includes findings reached in response to 14 appeals from one complainant which were considered between March and May and held back for further review. None of the 14 was upheld.
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The Governors' Programme Complaints Committee (GPCC) consists of five Governors of the 91Èȱ¬, to whom the full Board of Governors has delegated responsibility for ensuring that complaints made by viewers and listeners are "given due consideration by and are properly handled" by the Corporation, as required under the Charter.
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They are: Richard Tait (Chairman); Deborah Bull; Professor Fabian Monds; Angela Sarkis and Professor Merfyn Jones.
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In fulfilling this remit, the GPCC undertakes regular reviews of the 91Èȱ¬'s processes and performance in relation to complaints handling.
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In particular, the GPCC is responsible for the independent oversight of the 91Èȱ¬'s strategic approach to complaints handling, and for monitoring the effectiveness of its processes, to ensure both serve the public interest and reflect best practice.
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In line with the GPCC's responsibility for monitoring the effectiveness of complaints handling by 91Èȱ¬ management, it is also the specific function of the GPCC to consider appeals against decisions and actions of the Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU) in dealing with serious editorial complaints, where complaints allege:
That the complainant has suffered unfair treatment in a transmitted item;
That the complainant's privacy has been unjustifiably infringed, either in a programme or item as transmitted, or in the process of making the programme or item;
That there has otherwise been a failure adequately to observe the 91Èȱ¬'s editorial guidelines.
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