On-screen captions, House of Commons Adjournment Debate ‘Trends in Excess Deaths’, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Parliament, 20 October

Summary of complaint

We received complaints regarding the on-screen captions about vaccine safety broadcast during the debate.


Our response

It is normal practice for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Parliament to show what are known as ‘story astons’ (or captions) which put debates into context for viewers.  They are not comments, but editorial context written by journalists working on the live output.

The first aston made clear to viewers that Reclaim MP Andrew Bridgen had tabled the debate.

In accordance with the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s guidelines on due impartiality, the remaining astons reflected (and are attributed to) the majority medical and scientific view that vaccines are safe.

Update 03/11 – We reviewed this output after concerns that the captions gave the impression that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ was taking an editorial approach in relation to the views expressed. We have published a clarification and apology here:

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