Trust and Apologies

One of today's news stories concerns further revelations of occasions when BBC television programmes have deliberately misled viewers. A prominent example came to light not long ago concerning the childrens' programme Blue Peter. A contest was being run, but due to technical difficulties, viewers' calls were not being received, so someone found a child in the building and announced the child as the winner. The newer occasions were of a similar nature.

In response, the BBC has suspended all contest programmes across all its media, has initiated an inquiry, and will train staff in maintaining the public's trust.

Maybe America has made me cynical, since we get used to being told plenty of whoppers from our governments and businesses, but to me this seems quite ... trivial. But it's impressive to see how highly regarded trust is here.

Apologies also come quickly here. When my train is late, often due to external factors like line maintenance or a slow freight train, the conductor apologises profusely and often. Once, when several trains were delayed or cancelled due to an engineering problem, the next day I saw signs displayed all over Liverpool Street Station with an extensive apology, with the manager's signature. I was impressed.