Broadcaster PowNed breached the Press Code with a much-discussed video about Taylor Swift fans last week, the public broadcasting ombudsman has said. a report.

Last week, the broadcaster posted a video titled: Screaming girls are becoming Taylor Swift’s bitches!A reporter in Amsterdam urged fans to go to extreme lengths to meet the singer. One fan kissed a stranger and another flashed her breasts, but the promised meet-and-greet never happened.

Ombudsman Marjo Smit concluded that the reporter had broken journalistic rules because he told interviewees something that was not true. “If he had been honest, he certainly would not have achieved the same result,” the ombudsman said.

When the woman who exposed her breasts was told the Taylor Swift interview would not take place, she indicated that she did not want the photos used. In doing so, PowNed also crossed an ethical line, according to the ombudsman.

The ombudsman received more than 300 complaints in response to the video, even after PowNed took the video down on Monday.

PowNed’s broadcast manager Dominic Wesse admits there were “a lot of mistakes” when filming the video. “This should never have happened, and it has absolutely nothing to do with journalism,” Wesse said. “It wasn’t just tasteless, it was much worse: a complete disrespect for women in general.”

The Ombudsman understands that PowNed wants to continue dealing with the matter internally, but says it would be “incumbent upon the broadcaster to think more thoroughly about exactly what went wrong here and return to it publicly”.

The chairman of the non-profit’s board, Frederik Leeflang, said he was pleased that the ombudsman had delivered his ruling so quickly and comprehensively. “Thankfully, PowNed recognises that this should never have happened, that our press code was not adhered to and the broadcaster has promised to take steps to prevent this from happening again. This was disrespectful to women and does not fit with what we do as a public broadcaster. It must stand up to it.”

Whether PowNed has also committed criminal offences is not for the Ombudsman but for a judge to assess. The Ombudsman deals with complaints on the basis of the Press Code, and a number of agreements that various public broadcasters have concluded with each other. The Ombudsman uses this code to determine whether a broadcaster or editorial team has stepped out of line.