BBC to train its staff to be honest

The BBC has begun a mandatory new training programme to teach honesty to its staff.

London, July 25 : The BBC has begun a mandatory new training programme to teach honesty to its staff.

The Safeguarding Trust course, according to The Telegraph, is being set up as part of the damage limitation exercise by the corporation after the revelation that six children's and charity television programmes had misled viewers. ark Byford, the BBC's Deputy Director General, told a House of Commons Culture Select Committee on Tuesday that all employees, no matter how senior or famous, would have to attend the course if involved in making programmes.

But the BBC may find some presenters more resistant than others. Andrew Neil, who presents the Daily Politics show on BBC2 and This Week on BBC1, was contemptuous.

"All 16,000 of us are going to be sent to re-education camps, a bit like Pol Pot's Cambodia," he told his viewers.

Philip Davies, a Tory MP on the select committee, also questioned the need for the course as he thought the requirement for honesty ought to be obvious.

ITV is awaiting the outcome of an audit ordered after allegations against GMTV and shows including The X Factor, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and Soapstar Superstar.

Channel 4, in partnership with Five, will publish an Independent Producer's Handbook that will provide a guide to the regulatory rules governing the making and broadcast of programmes and will also beef up its own training programme.

ANI