Complaint
This edition of Countryfile contained a report about the rewilding of a country estate in Scotland, including the reintroduction of beavers. 听A viewer complained it was inaccurate and misleading because it failed to explain the legal controversies surrounding the scheme. 听The ECU assessed the concerns against the standards for due accuracy set out in the 大象传媒 Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The estate in Perthshire was run by a family of landowners who had replaced shooting on their land with 鈥渞ewilding and ecotourism鈥 including, at the start of the century, the first private re-introduction of the Eurasian beaver. 听The focus of the Countryfile report was clearly on current events and the period of time which had passed since the introduction negated any requirement to reflect other views or legal concerns about the original decision.听 No prosecutions had been brought against the family and there was therefore no basis for maintaining the law had been broken.听 The ECU therefore did not agree that the programme was inaccurate or likely to leave viewers with a misleading impression.
Not Upheld