Complaint
This article, originating from BBC Scotland, reported the outcome of the employment tribunal case brought by the nurse Sandie Peggie against NHS Fife and assessed its potential consequences. A reader asked the ECU to consider the accuracy of the article’s statement that the tribunal had found NHS Fife’s suspension of Ms Peggie to have been “unfair and unjust”, and to review it “in the context of the wider editorial judgements of the article”, which he considered biased towards the viewpoint of Ms Peggie and her supporters. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
In relation to accuracy, the ECU considered that the phrase “unfair and unjust”, while perhaps a reasonable extrapolation from the Tribunal’s findings, was not an accurate reflection of its terms. In the ECU’s judgement, it fell below the level of accuracy to be expected in an article of this kind (though it also noted that this was the first occasion on which it had found fault with BBC Scotland’s coverage of this challenging and long-running story). In relation to impartiality, the ECU did not share the reader’s impression that the article favoured Ms Peggie’s position, but found that it gave a balanced account of the extent to which her case had been dismissed as well as the aspect of it which had been upheld.
Partly upheld
Further action
The finding was reported to the management of BBC Scotand and discussed with the editorial team concerned. The article has been amended in the light of the finding.