PrintDecember 5, 2007
BBC spending $2 million to learn how to tell the truth
You can't make this stuff up. It's almost like the punchline to a joke: "How much does it cost to get the BBC to tell the truth?" The UK Times reports:
Hat tip: Joseph CrowleyTraining to remind staff about the importance of telling viewers the truth will cost the BBC more than £1 million in staff time and expenses.About 17,000 BBC staff have to attend a two-hour course, in which employees are invited to discuss where the line should be drawn between artifice and deception in the wake of a series of scandals.Vin Ray, the director of the BBC's college of journalism, said that the direct cost of the course would be "a maximum of £500,000", but the cost of taking each employee out for a half day more than doubled that figure.Mark Thompson, the Director-General, introduced the scheme after the corporation admitted a series of faked broadcasts, including made-up winners to phone-ins for Children in Need and Comic Relief and a misleading edit of a promotional video for a documentary about the Queen
