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BBC upholds programme complaint against ‘Top Gear’
MUMBAI: BBC D-G Mark Thompson has expressed confidence about the corporation being on track as far as improving the way complaints are handled is concerned.
The Beeb has published findings of the Programme Complaints Unit (PCU) for the period 1 July to 30 September 2004.
A new complaints procedure, announced earlier this year, will come into operation by early next year. In this quarter the PCU dealt with 284 complaints concerning 191 items.
49 complaints were upheld (seven of them partly). This amounts to 17.5 per cent of the total number of complaints received.
One complaint that was upheld concerned the episode of the car show Top Gear which aired on BBC Two on 25 July 2004.
Three viewers complained of one-sided treatment of the Government’s recent transport policy document and related issues. The BBC found that the treatment was largely in the style of humorous hyperbole which is the hallmark of the host Jeremy Clarkson and his co-presenters, and which is part of the programme’s appeal to its audience.
Established audience expectations of the programme are such that it has some scope to apply its particular brand of humour to topics of interest to motorists, even when those topics relate to matters of public controversy. However the BBC noted that the exchanges in question continued for long enough for it to become clear that, beneath the humour, a case in favour of one side of some controversial issues was being set out, and there should have been an element of balance.
As a result of the complaint The Top Gear production team is working on ways to provide an element of balance (where necessary) in future series, without compromising the programme’s appeal.
News Broadcasting
India’s AI Future Gets a Neural Kick-Off in Delhi
NDTV IND.AI Summit on 18 Feb 2026 to debate governance, ethics, and India’s big-tech ambitions.
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence is about to get a very Delhi welcome smart, spirited, and ready to out-think the room. On 18 February 2026, New Delhi plays host to the inaugural NDTV IND.AI Summit, a high-stakes pow-wow that promises to put India’s AI ambitions under the brightest spotlight yet. Billed as a deep dive into how artificial intelligence is already rewiring the nation’s economy, policy playbook, and strategic dreams, the one-day event is curated by NDTV in partnership with the Startup Policy Forum. At its core lies a single, sharp question: how do you unleash AI’s transformative power while keeping trust, equity, and sanity intact?
The guest list reads like a who’s-who of global AI heavyweights. Former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak headlines a special session on AI in governance, sharing hard-won lessons on how the technology is reshaping statecraft and decision-making. Joining the fray are OpenAI’s Chris Lehane, UC Berkeley’s AI safety pioneer Stuart Russell, and Google’s James Manyika, voices that will anchor India firmly in the international conversation on accountability, risk, and cross-border cooperation.
Beyond the policy wonks, the Summit rolls up its sleeves for real-world impact. General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja and other top-tier investors will unpack how AI is redrawing the rules of capital, innovation, and long-term value creation. Separate tracks will tackle AI’s footprint in workplaces, large-scale adoption, productivity shifts, evolving job roles, and organisational culture. India’s digital public infrastructure, often hailed as a global blueprint for inclusive tech gets its own spotlight, alongside a dedicated segment on AI sovereignty: what does true national control look like in a borderless tech universe?
NDTV CEO and editor-in-chief Rahul Kanwal framed the event’s bigger picture, “The IND.AI Summit is about the kind of future we are choosing to build. India has the scale, the talent, and the moral imagination to shape how AI serves society and this Summit is our way of bringing the most credible voices together to define that direction.”
In a world where AI chatter can feel abstract, the New Delhi gathering aims to ground the debate in India’s own story, one that ties cutting-edge innovation to public purpose, domestic priorities to global influence, and raw ambition to responsible stewardship. Whether you’re an algorithm enthusiast or just mildly curious about tomorrow’s headlines, this Summit is India signalling it’s not just catching the AI wave, it intends to help steer it.
