BBC watchdog criticises publicity over U2 launch

U2 RECEIVED “inappropriate” free publicity from the BBC last year during the launch of the band’s album No Line On The Horizon, the corporation’s editorial watchdog has ruled.

The band, which played on the roof of Broadcasting House in London last February before a crowd of 5,000, was given “an inappropriate impression of endorsement” when a logo was shown during a television programme that read “U2=BBC”, the watchdog declared.

The promotion was sharply criticised at the time by the Conservative Party, which complained that the licence fee-funded broadcaster had given U2 “the kind of publicity that money can’t buy”.

During the launch, U2 appeared as special guests on BBC Radio 1, while four tracks from the album played in the 20-minute rooftop gig were broadcast live on Chris Evans’s BBC Radio 2 show.

An investigation was launched following a complaint from The RadioCentre, the industry body for commercial radio firms in the United Kingdom, about the U2 promotion, and one for the band Coldplay.

The BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit ruled that a reference to the BBC being “part of launching this new album”, during an interview between BBC Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe and Bono, was inappropriate.

Equally, BBC Online, one of the most viewed websites in the world, should not have carried links to the websites of ticket agents handling sales for the No Line On The Horizon world tour.