Complaint
Harbottle & Lewis complained on behalf of Bovis ±«Óãtvs Ltd that these programmes were unfair to its client and in breach of due impartiality.
Outcome
The 19 April programme included a phone-in on the theme “Would you buy a new-build homeâ€, which was based on a newspaper article on this topic. The programme included contributions from callers who were critical of Bovis ±«Óãtvs.  In this programme Bovis ±«Óãtvs’ position was represented only by a quotation by the presenter from a statement it had provided for the newspaper article. The 26 April programme revisited the case of the first contributor and included an interview with her.  In this programme Bovis ±«Óãtvs’ position was represented by a statement provided on 3 April and previously broadcast on 7 April. In neither instance did the ±«Óãtv contact Bovis ±«Óãtvs to give them the right of reply on the programme. The ECU concluded that, although the programmes included nothing which engaged the issue of due impartiality, the failure to seek up-to-date responses from Bovis (which would likely have included customer-specific information about the cases raised and wider information that a recent ±«Óãtv Builders Federation survey showed Bovis ±«Óãtvs’ customer satisfaction score was trending around 87% at the time of the programmes) resulted in unfairness.
Partly upheld
Further action
The Editor of ±«Óãtv Three Counties apologised to Bovis ±«Óãtvs Ltd for the breach of editorial standards.