The BBC, as readers will know, has admitted deliberately deceiving viewers by featuring fake competition winners on charity fundraising programmes Children in Need, Comic Relief and Sport Relief.

The incidents are part of a general erosion of ethics of the publicly funded BBC – other examples are the £50,000 fine from Ofcom for also faking a competition winner on children’s TV programme Blue Peter, widely seen by many as the worst possible example to present to the impressionable. The reaction of the BBC’s management has been to keep their well-paid jobs and instigate ethical training sessions for all staff, to teach them how to tell right from wrong.

For the charity sector the most worrying aspect is the impact the massive loss of trust in the BBC will have on charitable giving by viewers.