Corporation could face £250k fine for political broadcast
BBC Scotland is facing a probe and a possible £250,000 fine after it screened an SNP party political broadcast in which a Torysupporting farmer appeared without his knowledge.
John Shedden said he agreed to take part in a ‘government public information film’ but was left furious after the footage promoted the Nationalists.
Mr Shedden, who farms at East Garleton Farm near Haddington, East Lothian, complained as he was horrified to appear in an SNP broadcast aired by BBC Scotland on October 12 last year.
Ofcom has confirmed it is progressing a ‘fairness and privacy’ complaint about the film, which some have interpreted as support for the SNP’s call for a second independence referendum.
Filming took place at the farm on September 23 last year, and it was nearly three weeks before Mr Shedden discovered what he had taken part in. The video was eventually removed from BBC iPlayer, and is no longer on the SNP’s official YouTube channel.
One clip cuts from a scene talking of ‘believers’ in independence to Mr Shedden sitting having coffee in bales of hay.
At the time, the 55-year-old said: ‘I am furious. I am not a supporter of the SNP.’
The company that produced it, Greenroom Films, apologised f or i ncluding Mr Shedden without his knowledge.
Now BBC Scotland could face sanctions as Greenroom said that while others had signed a release form to take part in the film, Mr Shedden had not and should not have been included.