Reef Television to pay fine after BBC Trust investigation

The BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee has investigated London-based production company Reef Television, makers of a number of BBC daytime programs like Sun, Sea And Bargain Spotting, Trash For Cash and Dealers: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, for breaching the BBC's editorial guidelines standards. In the three aforementioned shows, 'the public were being misled by production staff appearing on-screen where they could be assumed to be members of the public, or the non-signposted restaging of actual events,' according to the BBC. In light of the findings, Reef Television was faced with penalties which included a compensatory payment to the BBC and a three-month suspension of all business during which the prodco was to overhaul its compliance processes and editorial standards training. The BBC has now lifted its suspension, satisfied that the company is up to an appropriate standard and Reef will continue working on two existing BBC projects and is able to pitch new work to the BBC. In six months, the BBC will review Reef Television's editorial standards performance.