Icstis: Broadcasters have been "sloppy"

The chairman of phone-in watchdog Icstis says broadcasters have been "sloppy" over how they run premium rate lines.

Sir Alistair Graham told BBC News he thought incidents of badly run phone-ins were "more cock-up than conspiracy", however.

Several shows on various networks have come in for criticism in recent weeks and Sir Alistair said viewers' trust in the schemes had been hit and called for a quality mark to be introduced.

"I suspect there has been a great deal of sloppiness around," he revealed. "Perhaps junior staff have been allowed to take responsibility for these phone-ins, because it all seems to be part of the mechanics of making the programme, rather than an essential issue of trust between the programme-maker and viewer."

"Given the recent spate of incidents," he added, "consumer trust in these programmes must be at rock bottom... Achieving a fair deal for consumers is absolutely top priority. If we can't achieve that we won't be frightened of advising people not to participate in these programmes."