BBC lost public trust over Glastonbury fiasco, Ofcom boss says

Telegraph

15 hours ago

The BBC lost public trust over the Glastonbury fiasco when it broadcast anti-Israeli chants, the head of Ofcom has said.
Dame Melanie Dawes, the regulator's chief executive, called on BBC bosses to act more quickly to recognise issues with their coverage and said she was 'frustrated' with the organisation.
The BBC was widely condemned last month when it broadcast Bob Vylan, a band, chanting: 'Death, death to the IDF.'
The footage remained available on BBC iPlayer for several hours after it happened, prompting calls for the resignation of senior executives including Tim Davie, the Director-General.
The corporation was also criticised after it broadcast a documentary about Gaza, which featured the son of a Hamas official.
'I think it's very frustrating that the BBC has had some own-goals in this area, with the Gaza documentary and then with the Glastonbury coverage,' Dame Melanie told the BBC's Laura Kuennsberg programme.
'It does start to erode public trust and confidence,' she added.
'I think I would say that above all, what frustrates me and others is that when these things go wrong, it can take a long time for the BBC to see that something's happened when everybody else was there within a matter of hours.
'So I would say to the BBC [that] I think they need to get a grip quicker, get these reports and investigations concluded sooner. Otherwise, there is a real risk of a sort of loss of confidence in the BBC, which is a shame.'
She added that 'day by day' the BBC produces 'really high quality journalism' but had been let down recently by several editorial mistakes.
Ofcom previously said that the BBC had 'questions to answer' over the Bob Vylan chants.
The corporation has apologised for the broadcast and said 'high risk' acts would not be broadcast live in future.
Next week the BBC will publish a report into the Gaza documentary, which drew condemnation and accusations that it was broadcasting propaganda by Hamas.
It will also report on Gregg Wallace, the former MasterChef presenter, who has been accused of inappropriate behaviour on set. Mr Wallace said this week that his failure to wear underpants while working at the BBC was a result of autism.
The broadcaster will also release its annual report, which could address wider cultural issues at the corporation and recent controversies. Separately, Dame Melanie said she thought the Government may have to go further with its online harms legislation to protect children from AI chatbots.
Some AI services have reportedly encouraged children to self-harm, raising concerns among parents about the accessibility of unregulated bots.
The Online Safety Act, passed by the previous Conservative government, covers some AI services linked to social media companies but there are already warnings of 'loopholes' about new platforms developed since it came into force in 2023.
'There are some forms of new AI which are going to be covered, but there are some that may not,' Dame Melanie said.
'I think this is a general point…that as the internet keeps changing, as new forms of AI come in very rapidly, there may need to be some changes to the legislation to cover that.'