Complaint
Harbottle & Lewis complained on behalf of Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s Ltd that these programmes were unfair to its client and in breach of due impartiality.
Outcome
The 19 April programme included a phone-in on the theme “Would you buy a new-build homeâ€, which was based on a newspaper article on this topic. The programme included contributions from callers who were critical of Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s.  In this programme Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s’ position was represented only by a quotation by the presenter from a statement it had provided for the newspaper article. The 26 April programme revisited the case of the first contributor and included an interview with her.  In this programme Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s’ position was represented by a statement provided on 3 April and previously broadcast on 7 April. In neither instance did the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ contact Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s to give them the right of reply on the programme. The ECU concluded that, although the programmes included nothing which engaged the issue of due impartiality, the failure to seek up-to-date responses from Bovis (which would likely have included customer-specific information about the cases raised and wider information that a recent ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Builders Federation survey showed Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s’ customer satisfaction score was trending around 87% at the time of the programmes) resulted in unfairness.
Partly upheld
Further action
The Editor of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Three Counties apologised to Bovis ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½s Ltd for the breach of editorial standards.