The Governance and Regulation of the BBC

HL 166, 2nd Report of Session 2010-12 - Report

Author:

House of Lords - Select Committee on Communications

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

Price: £13.50

'The Governance and Regulation of the BBC (HL 166)' reports the Select Committee on Communication's findings in relation to the governance and regulation of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Committee concludes that there are too many different processes for varying types of complaint, making it very difficult for viewers, listeners and users of BBC content to know where to go to complain.

The BBC needs to provide a clear overview of how the complaints process works and publish this in one place on its website and there needs to be a clearing house to direct people through the complaints process.

The confusion is in part because the BBC Trust and Ofcom have overlapping jurisdiction in several areas of content regulation, with the exception of issues of impartiality and accuracy and commercial references, which the BBC Trust regulates.

In particular, the Committee wants the BBC and Ofcom to consider granting Ofcom the right to regulate the BBC on matters of impartiality and accuracy. In addition, creativity must not be allowed to be stifled by an overly bureaucratic compliance culture.

Best practice for programme making needs to be established to ease concerns that it isn't always clear to viewers what is reality, reconstructed and constructed footage. Greater clarity is needed on the governance role of the Non-Executives on the BBC Executive Board, who should be recruited from a wider range of backgrounds than they are presently.

Terms of access for the National Audit Office (NAO) to the BBC must be agreed, ensuring that the NAO does not comment on any matters of broadcast content or journalistic integrity.

Extent	69 pages	ISBN	9780108473555
Size	A4	Price	£13.50
Format	Paperback	Published	29 Jun 2011
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges