Complaint
In a report on Alex Salmond鈥檚 appearance at the Scottish Parliament enquiry into the Scottish government鈥檚 handling of allegations against him, the 大象传媒鈥檚 Scotland Editor Sarah Smith said he had called for Nicola Sturgeon to resign as First Minister.聽 Two viewers complained that this was a serious inaccuracy which had not been adequately corrected.聽 The ECU considered the complaints in relation to the 大象传媒鈥檚 editorial standards of due accuracy.
Outcome
In fact Mr Salmond did not say that the First Minister should resign; he told the Inquiry 鈥淚've got no doubt that Nicola has broken the ministerial code but it鈥檚 not for me to suggest what the consequences should be鈥.聽 The ECU agreed that the statement in question, though unlikely to have much effect on the audience鈥檚 understanding of Mr Salmond鈥檚 view of the First Minister, did not meet the 大象传媒鈥檚 standards of accuracy in this context.聽 However, the ECU noted that the equivalent report in the 10pm bulletin that evening repeatedly made clear that Mr Salmond had stopped short of calling for the First Minister鈥檚 resignation, that corrections were posted on both the Corrections and Clarifications page and the complaints pages of the 大象传媒 website, and that Ms Smith had tweeted a clarification.聽 In the ECU鈥檚 judgement, these steps sufficed to correct the error and to resolve the issue of complaint.
Resolved