Complaint
This bulletin included an item on a proposed ban on trail hunting which featured the Holderness Hunt. Six viewers complained that the reporter was wrong of the hounds seen in the item that “These old English fox hounds have never been fox hunting. It became illegal long before they were born” because there was evidence that the Holderness Hunt had been involved in illegal hunting activity. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The ECU judged that, in the context of an item which also reflected the views of opponents of trail hunting and included video evidence in support of the argument that it could serve as a smokescreen for the illegal killing of foxes, the reporter’s words would have been understood by viewers in general as meaning that none of the hounds shown had been born when fox hunting was still legal, and not as a statement that no hound currently owned by the hunt had ever chased foxes. On that basis, the ECU considered the reporter’s words to have been duly accurate.
Not upheld
