Did you see that the BBC has apologised for it’s biased coverage of the Dale Farm fiasco on the excreable The One Show? Well, sort of!
The popular early evening show had been accused of unbalanced journalism over its February report about the proposed site’s pending clearance.After the five minute piece was broadcast, council officials complained to the public broadcaster, accusing the show of being ”inaccurate, misleading and biased in favour of the travellers”. On Thursday, the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee (ESC) published its finding on the five-minute report following a lengthy investigation.
The investigation concluded the show had been ”duly accurate” and ”had not knowingly and materially misled its audiences”. But it found the BBC One programme had ”failed to clarify that the site had been developed on green belt land”
The BBC Trust will now offer an apology to the local authority. But it is understood The One Show will not have to make an on-air apology. As a result of its finding, editorial procedures have been “reviewed” and “strengthened” at the show, the BBC said. The report also said it had been ”unfair” to the council in allowing a traveller to allege the local authority was ”throwing us out on the road” with ”nowhere to go” without giving it a right of reply.