Complaint
This bulletin included a report on an incident in which a man had been shot dead by police in Norfolk. A viewer complained that the item began with the information that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had begun an investigation – which, though accurate, conveyed a potentially misleading implication of culpability on the part of the police. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The initiation of the IOPC investigation was a new aspect of the story. It is entirely normal, and in keeping with audience expectations, for reports on developing stories to begin with, or focus on, the most recent development, and the ECU did not consider it likely that viewers in general would have been misled into drawing any particular inference from it.
Not upheld