The BBC has been cleared of "systematic bias against business" but its coverage has been criticised for lapses and "repeated breaches of standards".
An independent report for the BBC Trust looking at the impartiality of the corporation's business coverage identified trends that were concerning, such as a "lack of awareness of the commercial world" among BBC staff.
The panel of experts behind the report, who were led by Sir Alan Budd, said they did does not believe the BBC has a systematic bias against business.
Their overall conclusion is that "most of the BBC's business output meets the required standards of impartiality".
But the panel also said it "has seen a number of individual lapses and identified some trends which lead to repeated breaches of the BBC's standards".
The inquiry also highlighted a lack of interest or knowledge about business among some programme editors and researchers and criticised some presenters "especially on Five Live [who] expressed their personal views and preferences about particular commercial products".
Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, said: "Overall the trust welcomes the report and in particular the panel's insightful analysis. The report includes reassuring evidence of good quality journalism and we are pleased that the panel found no evidence of systematic bias by the BBC against business.
"That said, the report also includes some clear examples of under-performance and offers some new and interesting insights, in particular the contrasts between what the panel describes as sycophantic and aggressive interviews of industry 'doyens'.
"The trust shares the panel's concern about the BBC's predominant focus on the consumer perspective in business reporting if it results in the audience not receiving the full story."
The report was commissioned by the BBC last October. It is the third in a series of reviews into the corporation's impartiality. The previous two have covered coverage of the Middle East and Europe.
Today's report was put together by an independent panel chaired by Sir Alan, a former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
The other members are: Stephen Jukes, head of Bournemouth University's media school; Chris Bones of Henley Management College; John Naughton, Open University professor and Observer columnist; Oxfam director Barbara Stocking; and Paralympic athlete Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.
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