Complaint
Solicitors representing James Watt, Chief Executive of BrewDog at the time, complained that, in a sequence in which former employees of the company expressed concerns about Mr Watt’s behaviour towards female staff, the programme included a false statement by a former manager of one of the company’s bars that he had arranged for “more men†to be on shift on evenings when Mr Watt was visiting. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ±«Óãtv’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The complainant maintained that records held by a third party showed that more women than men had been on shift on the dates of Mr Watt’s visits. The ECU noted, however, that the manager’s words were open to more than one interpretation; he had not said that he scheduled more men than women on the occasions in question and, in the context of similar concerns being expressed by other former employees, could reasonably have been understood to mean that he had scheduled more men than would usually have been the case. Consequently the ECU found no breach of the ±«Óãtv’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Not upheld