Complaint
The programme included an item on the origins of the Covid-19 virus.聽 A listener complained that it showed bias by referring to 鈥渃辞苍蝉辫颈谤补肠颈别蝉鈥 and 鈥渢丑别辞谤颈蝉迟蝉鈥 in a way which had the effect of discrediting the views of those who argued that the virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.
Outcome
The ECU noted three occurrences of the terms which concerned the listener.聽 Introducing the item, the presenter described the Wuhan laboratory as being 鈥at the centre of conspiracies about how Covid started鈥.聽 In the course of the item the reporter said 鈥渇or the Wuhan labs to prove their innocence is quite difficult and everything that they show that would suggest that they are not the source can always be explained as another part of the conspiracy鈥 and the presenter referred to 鈥淚鈥檓 wondering what would quieten down the theorists who think that the Wuhan lab was the centre of the leak鈥.聽 These, however, occurred in a context where the view that the virus had a laboratory origin was not treated dismissively, but was considered on an evidential basis and, in the ECU鈥檚 judgement, they did not have the effect complained of by the listener.
Not upheld