KEY POINTS:
The BBC was plunged into fresh controversy yesterday over faked phone-ins after an enquiry unearthed serious breaches in six shows including charity telethons, Comic Relief, Children in Need and Sport Relief.
Mark Thompson, the corporation's director general, ordered all phone-related competitions on television and radio to cease
from midnight last night, while interactive and online competitions were also being taken down.
The move came after a review of around one million hours of output since 2005, following an internal investigation in the wake of a row over a BBC1 trailer, which wrongly implied the Queen had stormed out of a sitting with photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The dramatic announcement of a suspension came as Mr Thompson revealed six new instances of programmes featuring fake winners, in a presentation to the BBC Trust.
He said the incidents were "totally unacceptable", while the Shadow Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, branded it "a grim day for the BBC".
Richard Tait, from the BBC Trust, said the disclosures had damaged the corporation's reputation.
"We know that licence payers really trust the BBC and value its reputation for integrity and honesty so we are very disappointed to be told about these cases.
"I think it is quite damaging in the sense that this is an organisation that is respected around the world . . ." he said.
The latest admissions cap a miserable period for the BBC, which was also fined 50,000 pounds ($129,412) for a fake winner on Blue Peter.
The programme's makers, RDF Media, subsequently admitted that it was "guilty of a serious error of judgement".
Mr Thompson told BBC staff in an email last week that the corporation needed to put "its house in order" and that honesty and accuracy were paramount.
He has since ordered an independent inquiry into the Queen footage and commissioning from RDF, has been "paused".
In the latest frauds, a member of the production team for Comic Relief - which raises money for those living in poverty in Britain and Africa - posed as a viewer in March, after the audience was invited to donate money by calling in to win prizes belonging to a famous couple.
The first two callers taken on air gave incorrect answers, during which time other waiting callers were lost. Then, a member of the production team posing as a caller was heard successfully answering the question on air.
In Children In Need - which the BBC describes as the "most important single event" in its calendar - during a broadcast in Scotland in November 2005, the name of a fictitious winner was read out on air after a technical mistake which prevented genuine callers from getting an open phone line.
In Sport Relief last July, viewers were led to believe that a member of the audience won a competition which was open to the public when the caller was part of the production team, as was a caller on BBC Two's children's programme, TMi, last September.
Meanwhile, pre-recorded radio programmes of The Liz Kershaw Show were presented as if they were live, including a competition announcement which appeared to feature genuine listeners phoning in to take part, one of whom would win a prize on air.
In fact, there were no competitions or prizes in shows during 2005 and 2006, and all the callers were members of the production team and their friends. The practise was only stopped when a new producer took over the programme in December last year.
White Label, a weekly pop programme on the World Service transmitted until April last year, announced fake winners for the CD prize slot in the show, when no winning entries had actually been received.
Mr Thompson spoke of the importance to "go public" with the announcement of the various phone-in deceptions.
"It is right that we are open with the public when we have fallen short and that we demonstrate that we take this very seriously indeed. There is no excuse for deception.
"I know the idea of deceiving the public would simply never occur to most people in the BBC.
"If you have a choice between deception and a programme going off air, let the programme go," he said.
The Trust, the BBC's governing body, added: "The public has a right to expect the BBC to set the standards for editorial integrity in broadcasting and expect those in charge of the Corporation to protect the reputation of their public institution."
It added that Mr Thompson's report highlighted "further deeply disappointing evidence of insufficient understanding amongst certain staff of the standards of accuracy and honesty expected".
Other measures outlined in Mr Thompson's action plan included mandatory training for 16,500 staff, while some editorial managers were asked to "stand back" from their duties.
No resignations have been announced.
- INDEPENDENT
