Complaint
The programme included an interview with Betty Brown, the oldest surviving victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. A viewer complained that the interview had the effect of “whipping up” public emotion in a way likely to interfere with the ongoing judicial process in circumstances where representatives of the Government were prevented by that process from responding to Mrs Brown’s criticisms. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
Whatever the supposed effect of the interview, the ECU considered Mrs Brown was fully entitled to express her frustration at the lengthiness of the process of seeking compensation she might not live to see (it having already been established that the charges against her were false) and that it was legitimate for the programme-makers to have given her the opportunity of doing so. The inclusion of a written response from the Post Office Minister immediately after the end of the interview sufficed to ensure due impartiality.
Not upheld