The Editors - Mark Thompson: Trust and values

This is now getting very strange. Ex-Blue Peter producer Richard Marson was suspended then today sacked over a newly-revealed 'deception' that a Blue Peter online poll to name a cat returned the most popular name choice as being "Cookie". But instead of choosing this particular name for the cat, the production staff gave the cat the name "Socks" instead.

On face value this revelation in itself is somewhat bewildering, as in "why would they bother to do such a thing". This is especially the case when considering earlier rumours that instead suggested that the most popular name in the poll was a "variant of Puss" and that the name was changed because it would have been unsuitable for a children's TV show.

If it was truly a case of supreme arrogance in disregarding the results of an online poll then there may just be a legitimate case for further disciplinary action if not resulting in outright dismissal, even allowing for the fact that Marson was involved with the programme at the time of the previous scandal involving technical difficulties with a phone-in competition.

Television has always involved a degree of deception, and if certain rumours are to be believed in relation to the fixing of a wide variety of programming including the outcome of whole quiz shows, the naming of a cat is pretty much the bottom of the pile when it comes to television-related trickery.

There will be undoubtedly be further accusations made, including charges levelled at Mark Thompson and the BBC Trust for not fully understanding the mechanics of television and for spending too much effort on a witchhunt that ultimately ends up achieving little except generating fear and uncertainty.

And it would be a pity that all this effort being made in trying to maintain people's trust in the corporation ends up getting thrown away if cutbacks elsewhere ultimately result in inaccurate and unreliable reporting in the areas of news and current affairs.