Complaint
This edition featured an interview with George Osborne, the Chairman of Trustees of the British Museum and former Chancellor of the Exchequer. 聽A listener complained that he was not questioned about the strike by members of the PCS union at the Museum. 聽The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 大象传媒鈥檚 standards of impartiality.
Outcome
Mr Osborne was questioned on a wide variety of subjects; a new museum in Manchester supported by the BM, a plan to loan the Parthenon sculptures to a museum in Athens, the prospective rise in the rate of corporation tax and the attractiveness of Britain to business investors with reference to the North of England, and the appointment of the Chairman of the 大象传媒. 聽These spanned both Mr Osborne鈥檚 current interests and his experience as a senior former politician. 聽Direct responsibility for staff relations at the museum lies with the Director not the Chairman of the Trustees, and in the ECU鈥檚 view, the topics chosen for discussion were sufficiently germane to the guest鈥檚 background for the obligations of due impartiality to have been met.
Not Upheld