Complaint
A viewer complained a report in this bulletin wrongly suggested Madeleine McCann’s parents had been “a few metres away” when she disappeared. The ECU considered whether the item met the standards for accuracy set out in the BBC Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The ECU agreed the description could have been more precise. But in the context of this report, which was about the release of a suspect in the case, the precise distance between Madeleine and her parents at the time she was abducted was not a material fact necessary to the audience’s understanding of the story and the item was therefore not in breach of the Guidelines.
Not Upheld