Editorial Standards Committee report

The Editorial Standards Committee (ESC), formerly the Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee (EGSC), is a Committee of the BBC Board, established firstly to oversee the BBC’s editorial standards across its public and commercial services and secondly to ensure that the BBC is accountable to the licence fee payer through its complaints process. The Board sets the BBC Editorial Guidelines and it is the responsibility of the Director-General and his executive team to meet them.

This was a challenging year for the BBC against a very polarised political and societal backdrop. There were a series of BBC reputational issues which were discussed at the Committee, including in relation to Gaza, Glastonbury and the BAFTA Film Awards.

Over the summer of 2025 an effectiveness review of the EGSC was undertaken following concerns raised by the Chair regarding the clarity of its remit. In the autumn, following the leak of external adviser Michael Prescott’s email to the Board, which raised a number of issues including concerns about an edit of a speech by President Trump which was subsequently deemed to be an unintentional editorial error for which the BBC apologised, and criticism of EGSC oversight, I was tasked with extending the review. My findings were unanimously accepted by the BBC Board with reports approved for publication on 18 December 2025.

The BBC has now refocused the Committee’s remit to provide oversight of the controls that are in place to manage editorial risk and to ensure that individual issues are dealt with promptly and at the right level in the organisation. In order to support this work, the composition of the Committee has been reset to consist of three non-Executive members, in addition to me as Chair, and the Director-General who is Editor-in-Chief. We also clarified the role of the external editorial advisers to the Committee and have advertised for two new advisers, who have now been appointed. We will review progress after six months of the operation of the new Committee.

My tenure as Chair of the new Committee started on the 11 March 2026 under its new name, the ESC and with its new membership in place. I would like to thank Samir Shah for his time as Chair. 

Despite these challenges the Committee has continued to focus on its work for the Board which in 2025/26 included:

Editorial Policy and Standards

One of the most important roles for the ESC is the oversight of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines. These set the editorial values and standards for all BBC output – in the UK and internationally – and apply to anyone making content for the BBC, whether public service, BBC Studios or Indies. The ESC approved the revised Editorial Guidelines for publication in 2025. The amended guidelines incorporated responses to the public consultation and were updated to reflect changes in the broadcasting landscape, legal issues, regulatory issues and technological changes – such as the use of AI – since 2019.

As agreed by ESC, the revised guidelines continue to apply due impartiality and due accuracy to all output, going further than the requirements in the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. The new guidelines were published on 24 June and came into formal effect for all BBC output from 1 September. The ESC approved a comprehensive communications plan for the rollout of the guidelines, including sessions in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and hub international bureaux. All associated guidance was updated and published at the same time.

Parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales, plus local government elections in parts of England, were held on 7 May 2026. Bespoke Election Guidelines were drawn up for these elections, as required by the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines; they contain the Code of Practice – fulfilling the obligations on the BBC towards the participation of candidates, having regard for the view of the Electoral Commission, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000.

The guidelines also reference Ofcom’s Digest of Past and Current Electoral Support, taking account of respective levels of electoral support in each nation. Draft guidelines were initially published, allowing comment from political parties, and the final guidelines were approved by the ESC in March 2026. The Committee also approved the allocation criteria for Party Election Broadcasts for the different elections. ESC was briefed on the process for dealing with expedited complaints in an election period and the BBC maintained ongoing communication with Ofcom throughout the election period.

ESC regularly discusses key areas of editorial risk, identified by the Director Editorial Policy and Standards, to provide editorial oversight of the procedures that are in place to mitigate against any potential issues. In addition, ESC assesses the effectiveness of risk management through internal audits and editorial reviews.

Editorial Reviews

The Thematic Reviews commissioned by the Board are overseen by the Committee. It recommends topics for review and leaders to undertake them, as well as developing terms of reference for the Board to approve. Regular updates on progress with the reviews are received during the year.

The third independent Thematic Review of BBC content – on the portrayal and representation of the UK – was published on 29 January 2026. It was jointly authored by Anne Morrison and Chris Banatvala. The subject is a key Public Purpose in the current Charter and this Review, in common with its predecessors, put forward significant and practical ideas for enhancing the representation of all UK communities and their portrayal in BBC content. The Executive’s response reflected the extensive work being undertaken in these areas across the BBC output divisions. The Committee will monitor progress with implementation.

The Board has decided that the next Thematic Review would consider coverage of the conflicts in the Middle East, although this was subject to the state of hostilities in the region. In view of the continuing conflicts in the Middle East, this review has not yet commenced its work and planning has also begun for a thematic review of coverage of climate change and net zero.

The ESC also commissioned editorial research examining a range of topics, including business content, local online content, and the use of political labels. Following discussion at the Committee, the findings were disseminated to support and inform content producers and promote best practice.

The ESC was kept informed on the current approach to the use of generative AI at the BBC, developments with BBC Verify, work ongoing to reinforce editorial standards in BBC World Service, including BBC Arabic and Audience Research into public perceptions of impartiality. The Committee also noted papers on progress with recommendations arising from the 10-point impartiality plan and Editorial Whistleblowing. Ofcom also attended the Committee once during the year.

Editorial Complaints and lessons learned

A core function of the ESC is to oversee the BBC’s complaints process (see How we handle your complaint) and to ensure adherence to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code.

The BBC received 193,207 complaints at stage 1 of the BBC First process. 94% of complaints at stage 1a were handled within ten working days against a target of 93%.

The Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) dealt with 691 editorial complaints at stage 2 of the BBC’s complaints process in 2025/26. The ECU found the BBC in breach of editorial standards on 48 occasions. The process for escalating complaints directly to the ECU was executed following the inclusion of an offensive racial slur broadcast in coverage of the BAFTA Film Awards 2026 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

85% of complaints at stage 2 were concluded within 20 working days for standard stage 2 complaints and 35 working days for complex stage 2 complaints against a target of 80%.

In the reporting year Ofcom found the BBC in breach on one occasion – Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, BBC Two and iPlayer, 17 and 18 February 2025. It imposed a sanction, in the form of a direction to broadcast a summary of its finding.

The ESC receives reports on complaints and discusses breaches and actions to be taken with the Executive. Complaints figures and a summary of any editorial breach is also provided to the Board.

Serious editorial breaches

In addition to the breaches upheld by the ECU, there were also two serious editorial breaches identified by the Executive in this period, which were reported to the ESC together with action taken by the relevant division. The breaches were:

BBC East

A regional shared programme aired an interview with an Awami League politician wanted by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh, and others, for crimes against humanity.

The interview was meant to be pre-recorded but due to logistics, it was transmitted live without additional editorial oversight. During the interview, the guest used the platform to pursue an agenda without sufficient challenge.

Following broadcast, this was escalated to a senior editorial figure who agreed that the interview was inappropriate and should be removed from BBC Sounds.

There was inadequate pre-transmission compliance, including no escalation to senior editorial figures for approval. A new compliance process has been introduced for the shared programme.

Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone

This programme showed the impact of the Israel-Gaza war on children living in the Gaza warzone. The programme was made for BBC News by independent production company HOYO Films. The film was narrated by a 13-year-old boy, whose narration was scripted.

Following broadcast, allegations were made on social media regarding the family connections of the narrator, specifically that his father held a position as a Deputy Minister of Agriculture within the Hamas-run government in Gaza. Two days after initial broadcast, the BBC re-broadcast the programme with new text at the outset making clear about the narrator’s father.

The BBC removed the programme from iPlayer a few days later and it was announced that the Director-General had asked for a full fact-finding review of this programme.

The review found that the failure to identify and disclose the information about the narrator’s father’s position as Deputy Minister of Agriculture was a breach of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines on Accuracy (misleading audiences).

BBC News has taken action as a result, including enhanced editorial controls through a ‘first gate’ and ‘final gate’ process, and the embedding of a BBC News executive producer inside the production company for every high-risk long form film produced for BBC News.

All serious editorial breaches were reported to the ESC and the Board, and Ofcom was informed where relevant in line with the agreed protocol.

Of all the responsibilities of the BBC Board the setting of editorial standards, maintaining them, monitoring their implementation and learning the lessons when things go wrong are the most important. They speak to our very purposes. So, it is with pride and some trepidation that I take over as Chair of this crucial committee. I am most grateful to Robbie Gibb for agreeing to serve another term and to Chris Jones and Marinella Soldi for joining us.

We are ably assisted by Jo Clarke as the ever-efficient secretary. Both Michael Prescott and Caroline Daniel stepped down this year as independent advisors and we benefited a lot from their rigorous and challenging approach. I would also like to thank and pay tribute to the executives who oversee the editorial standards across the board. They have a tough job and the Committee is lucky to have them working alongside us. We look forward to working with them as we implement the new approach.