The Stage

BBC workforce to undergo editorial standards training

Published Thursday 20 September 2007 at 17:05 by Matthew Hemley

All 16,500 BBC production and content staff are to take part in a mandatory training programme aimed at preventing further incidents of artifice in the Corporation’s output.

The news comes as the BBC revealed a further four cases of editorial breaches, including another episode of Blue Peter and an incident on the Clare McDonnell show on BBC 6 Music.

Addressing the BBC Trust, BBC director general Mark Thompson said the editorial training programme, called Safeguarding Trust, would reinforce the “imperative to understand and comply” with all of the Corporation’s values and editorial standards.

He said it would also enable staff to debate the right production techniques in light of recent incidents.

The director general also said competitions on BBC programmes would start to be reintroduced in November, but warned there would be a “significant reduction” in the amount broadcast, and revealed he had commissioned a new online project that will enable members of the public to explore how programmes are made.

Thompson said he was meeting with other broadcasters later this month to look at ways of working together to restore public trust.