BBC to monitor its phone-ins after scandals

LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) The BBC's use of premium rate phone lines is to be monitored and reviewed following two high-profile cases where ''grave mistakes'' were made, the BBC Trust said today.

An external auditor is to carry out sample checks of some programmes while a longer-term policy review of how and when the BBC uses premium rate phone lines and associated programme interactivity is to be carried out.

The BBC Trust, the BBC's independent governing body, announced the move following its publication of a report by the Director General, Mark Thompson, into a breach of guidelines by ''Blue Peter'' and ''Saturday Kitchen''.

The trust's Chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said the errors which occurred around the Blue Peter programme last November were ''particularly serious''.

Children had been misled into taking part in a competition they had no chance of winning after a technical glitch prevented calls getting through.

Instead, a child who was in the studio, was put forward as the winner.

Lyons said: ''These grave mistakes were compounded by serious errors of judgment in not referring the matter to senior management.'' Saturday Kitchen also revealed flaws, the trust said, which resulted in viewers being misled into believing that they were calling a live programme.

The trust called for all programme makers to have a ''clear understanding of their responsibilities'' towards licence fee payers.

It also stressed that the ''BBC is different from other broadcasters in that it is funded by the licence fee and does not seek to make additional revenue from premium rate phone lines''.

Thompson said in a statement that ''in a number of instances, BBC programmes have fallen short of our high standards''.

But he added: ''scrutiny of the use of premium rate telephony by more than 200 BBC programmes found no evidence of systemic abuse or failure''.

Instead, he recommended a series of measures, including the suspension of all ''live'' telephone competitions where a winner is selected within a half-hour show.

''I believe that the report, and the actions we intend to take as the result of its lessons, will help to restore public confidence and reassure the public how seriously we regard such breaches,'' he said.

The policy review will be led by Ronald Neil, the BBC's former director of news and current affairs, and is expected to deliver its recommendations in the autumn.

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