Apologies and Fines for deceiving viewers

Hot on the heels after Blue Pater presenters were forced to apologise to viewers, for rigging an online poll to name the show's cat, GMTV have been fined £2 million for fake phone-ins.

Blue Peter viewers were asked to name the new fluffy ragdoll cat in January 2006, when he was introduced to the children's show. The most popular name from 40,000 viewers was Cookie. However, the show's producers felt that Socks was a better choice and so renamed him. Presenters Ronnie Hoq and Zoe Salmon were put in a difficult position and made a public apology and introduced a new kitten (called Socks) on Tuesday.

There has been a crisis of trust at the BBC over this and other similar incidents,have been where fictional winners announced. The BBC were fined £50,000 when a member of the public was posing as a winner for a Blue Peter competition and there were also fictional winners on Children in Need and Comic Relief competitions.

Meanwhile, Ofcom - the media regulator, has accused GMTV of "widespread and systematic deception of millions of viewers" and fined them £2 million in the process. This is the largest fine issued by the regulator and is for the running of fraudulent phone-in competitions, where 18 million viewers entered with no chance of winning. Over a four year period, GMTV made £63.6 million from premium rate competitions. Ofcom have also uncovered other scams on Channel Five's Brainteaser programme and "Richard and Judy" will also be investigated. 

Can we trust phone-in or online competitions organised by TV companies?