Reply from BBC ECU:
11 April 2024
BBC News Coverage of the trial and sentencing of Scarlet Blake
The Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has received complaints about television and online reporting by BBC News of the trial and conviction of Scarlet Blake at Oxford Crown Court. Complainants have raised a number of concerns about the accuracy and impartiality of the BBC coverage. Each complaint has been read and considered.
The ECU usually issues an individual response to each complaint it receives but the BBC’s published policy for handling complaints provides for it to reply to a number of complaints about the same issue by compiling a summary of the main points raised, considering them together and producing a single response. On this occasion, in view of the number of complaints received, we have decided to issue a single response, in the form of a finding by the ECU. The finding addresses all the significant points of complaint and assesses them against the BBC’s editorial standards, as set out in its Editorial Guidelines and related Guidance. We believe this approach is proportionate and the most effective way to ensure value for money for all licence fee payers.
This finding uses she/her pronouns in reference to Scarlet Blake, as was done during the trial. This does not indicate a view on which pronouns might be appropriate in other contexts.
Issues of Complaint:
Accuracy:
A number of complainants said it was inaccurate and misleading to refer to Scarlet Blake as a woman and to use she/her pronouns in reports of the case at Oxford Crown Court. For example:
The BBC is persisting in lying to its audience in describing a man as a female both before and after conviction for animal cruelty and murder.
And:
It is an absolute disgrace that you attribute the crime of a male to a woman by using the pronoun ‘she’.
The majority of the complainants made specific reference to a report on the BBC News (1pm) on 26 February 2024 (the day on which Scarlet Blake was sentenced) or to the initial version of a report on the Oxford page of the BBC News website published on 23 February, (the day on which Blake was found guilty of murder), both of which termed Blake a woman, with no reference to her trans status. The ECU has therefore considered whether the omission of any reference to Blake as a trans woman meant the two reports failed to meet the BBC standards for accuracy.
The ECU noted that Blake’s trans status was not known to the BBC (or, as far as it could establish, to other media) until it was introduced by the defence on 19 February. The police made no reference to it in their pre-trial briefing, it formed no part of the prosecution case, and Blake was referred to as a woman throughout the court proceedings. There was therefore no question of referring to sex recorded at birth or using anything other than she/her pronouns until gender identity was introduced by the defence on 19 February, on the basis that Blake claimed her experience of coming out as transgender and her parents’ adverse reaction to it accounted for much of her subsequent behaviour.
The ECU noted the majority of subsequent BBC reports did refer to Blake’s gender identity, and considered that the omission of such information in the two instances specified by complainants, in a context where it had become material to an understanding of the case, amounted to a breach of the BBC’s standards of accuracy.
In relation to the report in the 26 February bulletin, BBC News published a posting on the BBC Complaints website on 1 March acknowledging that the information that Blake is a transgender woman should have been included, and this was made clear to all complainants in correspondence before the matter was escalated to the ECU. In relation to the report on the Oxford page of the BBC News website, the ECU noted that information about Blake’s transgender status had been added within an hour of its initial publication. The ECU considered these actions to be sufficient to resolve the issue of complaint. However, since there was a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards in the first instance, a summary of this Unit’s finding will be posted on the complaints section of the BBC website as a further public acknowledgement of the error which occurred. The summary will appear later today at https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/recent-ecu, and I enclose a copy for your information.
This point of complaint has been resolved.
A small number of complainants raised a separate concern about accuracy, on the basis that references to Blake as a “trans woman” were materially misleading because the term is either not understood or misunderstood by many members of the public.
While acknowledging that the term is not universally understood, the ECU noted that the concept of gender identity and the terms trans woman and trans man are widely used in public discourse and by relevant authorities such as the NHS when referring to people with gender dysphoria. In the ECU’s view, therefore, the extent to which members of the audience would have been misled by the use of the term in question was limited and did not justify departing from the BBC’s published policy and associated guidance when reporting sex and gender.
This point of complaint is not upheld.
Impartiality:
A small number of complainants said the decision by BBC News to use the accused’s chosen gender identity was evidence of a lack of due impartiality in a controversial area.
For example:
By calling this individual a woman repeatedly with no prominent mention of his sex, you gave ‘the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area’ - ie you endorsed the viewpoint that self ID trumps sex.
The BBC recognises there is controversy over the distinction between sex and gender. People who experience a difference between the sex registered on their birth certificate and their gender identity may describe themselves as transgender. Some others may take the view that gender is entailed in what is often referred to as biological sex, and cannot be changed. Against this background, a simple refusal to use the terms in which people who regard themselves as transgender describe themselves would in effect be an endorsement of one viewpoint in this controversy, and the ECU considers impartiality is best served by the
BBC’s policy of using language and terminology which is clear and appropriate to the context, taking account of the subject and nature of the content.
This point of complaint is not upheld
There is no further right of appeal against the Executive Complaints unit’s decision within the BBC’s complaints process but complainants who wish to take the matter further can ask the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, to consider their complaint. Details of how to contact Ofcom and the procedures it will apply can be found at the following website: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/how-to-report-a-complaint. Complainants can also write to Ofcom at Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA, or telephone either 0300 123 3333 or 020 7981 3040.
Yours sincerely
Fraser Steel
Head of the Executive Complaints Unit