The BBC Gets Caught Faking Audience Phone Calls
Tsk, tsk, tsk. The BBC, one of the world's great media organizations, has been caught with its broadcast license down. Day to Day reports that "BBC television and radio has suspended phone-in contests from its programming after editors admitted they put fake winners on the air."
The BBC has compiled a list of its indiscretions on its Web site, saying there were "six shows in which production staff passed themselves off as genuine viewers or listeners, or invented fictitious winners." And it's reporting that a number of senior editors have been suspended for their roles. Rival media outlets, heads of concerned citizens groups and politicians gleefully joined in a chorus of condemnation.
But you want to know a dirty little secret? I've seen stuff like this before. More than once I heard producers for radio or TV shows where I worked in Canada tell an intern or production assistant to call the program when the number of calls from the real audience started to tail off with 20 minutes to go.
It happened in print, too. Years ago in Nova Scotia, I worked with an editor who, when he had not received any usable mail for the op-ed page, would write letters to the paper under his cat's name. It became a sure sign that things were slow when we would see Mrs. Tuffy's name in the paper.
5:27 PM ET | 07-19-2007 | permalink
