Complaint
A viewer complained that in a discussion on the role of the private sector in NHS provision of services, the programme failed to explain that one of the contributors, Professor Karol Sikora, had a financial interest in private medicine. The ECU considered whether the programme met the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s standards for due impartiality.
Outcome
The ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s Editorial Guidelines concerning due impartiality regarding contributors’ interests say "We should not automatically assume that contributors from other organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities and think-tanks) are unbiased. Appropriate information about their affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context".In point of fact Professor Sikora no longer had a financial interest in private healthcare provision at the time of the broadcast. Nonetheless in the ECU’s view it was made quite clear to viewers that he favoured private healthcare involvement in the NHS when reference was made to an article he had written in the Daily Telegraph. He was invited to set out his views as the basis for a discussion by MPs. This was sufficient information to ensure that viewers would have understood that he personally advocated a role for private healthcare services. The fact that he had previously founded a company offering cancer screening would not have materially altered the impression given to viewers about his opinion.
Not Upheld