BBC Trust Ruling
On 21 November 2008, the BBC's watchdog BBC Trust said that the phone calls were a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification." The Trust found that the existing BBC guidelines should have been sufficient to have prevented the incident, and that the "very offensive" programme should "never have been recorded." It found the failures lay in mistakes made by BBC editorial and compliance management. The Trust gave its backing to the BBC's response to the incident and Ross's 12-week suspension.
Echoing the findings of the BBC Trust, the BBC itself stated the incident was a "very, very serious failure in a radio programme where editorial judgement was exercised that seriously let the BBC down."
The Trust also criticised Brand's "so-called apology" of 25 October, and the staff of Chris Moyles's BBC Radio 1 show for also breaching BBC guidelines for comments by Brand in an interview on the morning of 21 October at a time when children were likely to be listening. The Trust recommended tighter controls for programmes such as Brand's, made by companies owned by their performers. Long-term effects of the controversy would include the setting up of a register of high-risk programmes.
Read more about this topic: The Russell Brand Show Prank Telephone Calls Row
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