Will Wyatt's independent investigation into the events surrounding the publication by the BBC of misleading footage about the Queen in a promotional video. The terms of reference for the investigation also call for recommendations regarding editorial standards, compliance and systems.

Wyatt finds that although no-one 'consciously set out to defame or misrepresent the Queen' in the promotional tape shown to the press, the incident 'reveals misjudgements, poor practice, and ineffective systems'.

The report goes through, step by step, the production of the promotional tape through to its delivery to the BBC, and on to the fateful press conference at which the BBC One Controller, Peter Fincham, told the press the Queen had walked out of a photo-shoot (when she had not).

According to the report RDF's Creative Officer made the original change to the chronology of the tape (p.5). This was then passed on to Red Bee media (who put together the BBC One launch tape). No questions were raised about the tape by the BBC, nor was it run in front of the Palace before being shown to the press.

When the BBC realised the order in the tape was wrong, they prepared a statement but did not release it until the following day so they could 'check the temperature of the story'.

Wyatt recommends the BBC take greater ownership of independent commissions in future, and that there should be a formal compliance process for launch tapes. He also suggests the BBC should introduce crisis spotting and crisis management training for relevant MC&A staff.

Keywords: BBC, The Queen, investigation