Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC, has adopted a hard line towards the misdeeds perpetrated in the name of the august institution that he leads. The unfolding scandal leaves the corporation in the most uncomfortable position since Lord Hutton reported on the Andrew Gilligan affair and Greg Dyke, Mr Thompson’s predecessor, fell on his sword.

It is not just that Children in Need and Comic Relief – two of the nation’s most revered charities – have been dragged down. It comes after the news that Blue Peter producers rigged a phone-in competition and straight after a trailer for a documentary about the Queen wrongly depicted a royal loss of temper.

Mr Thompson has shown gritty determination to get results by taking immediate action to halt phone-in competitions, to launch an independent inquiry into circumstances that led to the Queen’s embarrassment, and by indicating that certain executives will “step back” from their duties. Just as critical, however, is the promise to reform the BBC’s cultural mores. The corporation can only restore its reputation for integrity and honesty if it recognises the obvious shortcomings and confronts the culture of lax standards and a cavalier attitude towards the public.

The growth of independent production houses is partly to blame. It is all too easy to see how producers would seek short cuts if money is tight – or if money saved is likely to find a home in the pocket of the owner-manager of an independent production company. Moreover, relationships built on the assumption that short-term contracts may, or may not, be renewed, apparently make independent producers wonder if it is worth taking the time to inculcate staff with instinctive appreciation of the importance of trust.

Misplaced enthusiasm for financial rewards has also encouraged broadcasters to seek additional revenue from programming. Phone-ins may, superficially, be justified in terms of charitable endeavour or audience participation. But the cash that broadcasters cream off from the process explains why they have became so popular with television companies.

However, independent producers shoulder only part of the responsibility. At the same time, the BBC has a duty to act as an effective gatekeeper. Generally speaking, independent production has enlivened the quality of programming and promoted the cause of financial efficiency. It would be a mistake to lose the independents’ contribution because of defective commissioning controls at head office.

Nor should anyone assume that the BBC is the only broadcaster, or media enterprise, guilty of playing fast and loose with the trust of viewers, listeners and readers. Slipshod compliance with best practice lies at the root of the corporation’s travails but of more significance is the willingness with which the programme makers seemingly tolerated corner-cutting and corruption.

Michael Grade, the executive chairman of ITV who was previously the BBC Chairman, expressed deep-seated concern about across-the-board broadcasting principles in a speech given to the Royal Television Society this month. He went as far as to doubt the existence of a basic understanding about the importance and value of trust. Comments yesterday from Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, are similarly damning. That said, licence fee payers will expect the corporation to judge itself by the highest possible standards.