The Countryside Alliance have received a response from the BBC to a complaint they made earlier this month regarding an episode of BBC Inside Out London that they featured in. The response failed to address serious concerns raised about the episode and the decision has been made to progress the complaint further. If the Countryside Alliance remains unsatisfied once the BBC complaints procedures have been exhausted the complaint will be escalated to the BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee.
Yesterday Head of Shooting at the Countryside Alliance, Liam Stokes (who featured in the Inside Out episode), outlined his concerns for The Spectator Coffee House blog: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/11/can-bbc-allowed-constantly-break-editorial-standards/
In the Spectator article Liam Stokes states:
"Between our meeting at Broadcasting House and the airing of the documentary, we had sent numerous letters highlighting our concerns. All we received in reply was a denial that any undercover filming had occurred, which is a farcical claim given that in a clip used to promote the documentary the presenter is shown running away from the sound of a tractor to avoid detection, and a recommendation that we watch the broadcast and complain afterwards.
"This was of course the whole point of the obfuscation and the misdirection of our attempts to put the documentary back on the right track – the Beeb wanted to air it with maximum sensation for their urban viewers. The viewers of Inside Out London won't hear any future apology, and their initial impressions of game farming won't be undone. A sector of British farming will have been smeared by the BBC, and only game farmers will suffer the consequences."