The complainant submitted a photo for possible use in the programme’s weather segment, signing the email only with her first name. However, when the photo was used that evening, her full name appeared on screen alongside the location, taken from their email address. 

The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines covering Privacy state that when gathering personal information from contributors, audiences and other members of the public, it must be clear how it is intended to be used. 

In this case the ECU considered it was not made sufficiently clear that the complainant’s last name might be extracted from the email address and appear on screen. There was therefore a breach of the BBC’s privacy standards in this instance. 

The Look North team have apologised for the distress this has caused and subsequently changed their procedures to avoid any further such misunderstandings In the ECU’s view this is sufficient to consider the issue of complaint has been resolved.

Resolved