Complicated compliance cut down by BBC

Rules designed to make programme production at the BBC easier, yet have been described as ‘too restrictive’ are to be simplified.

 

The BBC Trust have reviewed the programme making procedures and to investigate whether the rules are restricting creativity within the corporation.

Last month The One Show host and BBC Radio 2 breakfast host Chris Evans criticised the ‘complicated compliance’ procedures at the beeb.

“The compliance department of the BBC is so extensive it’s an unbelievable nightmare,” he said while comparing a festival in Wales. He added, “Sometimes you come up with an idea and the compliance is so great that you just say, ‘let’s not bother’,”

A report released by the BBC Trust states that they are to test the rules to see whether rather than make programme making easier, as they are designed to do, the compliance list is actually making production more difficult. The new look guide is to have “simpler forms” and “fewer layers of checking” the BBC say.

“The aim is to create a more proportionate, risk-based approach that places trust in individuals to make decisions in line with the BBC’s values. “We would expect to see simpler forms and processes, fewer layers of checking, more empowerment – as well as more responsibility and accountability – for front-line programme-makers.” The trust state.

The report also suggests that the BBC needs to further its relationship with media regulator Ofcom as well as providing information on what the roles of the BBC Trust board are and more transparent information on who to complain to within the corporation.

The BBC’s compliance policies were thrown into the spotlight back in 2008 when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand carried out a “prank” on-air which backfired and caused an uproar in the press.

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