Media law and ethics » jimmy savile

The BBC and ‘tragedies of the fourth estate’

jtownend — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:28:39 +0000

There’s an excellent piece by Paul Lashmar, investigative journalist and lecturer at Brunel University, on openDemocracy this week, examining the role of – and implications for – investigative journalism in the recent ‘BBC debacle’. I was particularly interested in the section dealing with the editorial decision not to run Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile and the notion of “anticipatory compliance“:

What was going on in Peter Rippon’s mind? By that point he must have been aware of the potential embarrassment for the BBC if Newsnight accused the late Savile of being a paedophile just as the BBC entertainment launched a hagiographic “Savile Christmas” of tributes. Was it anticipatory compliance where Rippon intuited what he thought his bosses would want? One insider says they think Rippon picked up on a passing comment by head of News, Helen Boaden, saw it as straw in the wind and decided to kill the investigation. We may never know the answer to this question. The Newsnight editor did not help himself with his blog which inaccurately recorded that the story was about the police investigation into Savile, not the actual Savile allegations. He looked like a man distancing himself from his own decision. One of the lessons to come out of this sorry affair is that the considered nature of investigative journalism and off the cuff casualness of social media are poor bedfellows.

Full piece on openDemocracy’s ourBeeb site…

Mark Thompson, the legal letter, and the Savile investigation

jtownend — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:09:59 +0000

Stewart Purvis, professor of television journalism at City University London (formerly of ITN and Ofcom) has been carefully tracking the detail around ex-BBC director-general Mark Thompson’s legal interaction with the Sunday Times, following the newspaper’s questions about the BBC’s handling and knowledge of the Jimmy Savile allegations. Purvis’ blog post – and Thompson’s subsequent reaction – has since been picked up by the New York Times, where Thompson recently began work as the company’s CEO.

Background

Purvis’ first post on the topic [14 Nov] detailed a Sunday Times’ story by Miles Goslett* (£), which didn’t appear to have been followed up elsewhere by the media. It described how lawyers acting for Mark Thompson and Helen Boaden, director of BBC News, had responded to questions posed by the Sunday Times in August – they denied allegations about the handling of the Newsnight item and threatened legal action if they were printed. Purvis emphasised the significance of this story (the timings) in his post. Thompson’s reply to Purvis’ post was published here. Purvis has since summarised the resulting coverage here and here.

The Sunday Times’ latest story by Goslett, ‘Former DG feels heat over lawyers’ letter’ (£), reports:

Thompson … has told the Pollard inquiry he was not emailed a copy of the [legal] letter and does not recall being shown it.

Curiously, this fascinating story has received little interest beyond Purvis’ blog, the pages of the Sunday Times and US-based publications…

Purvis has remarked on this too and suggests that the fact that the Times’ story was behind a paywall might be significant.

However, that wouldn’t explain the continued lack of interest, now Purvis and US publications have made the details open-access…

It’s a “potentially explosive” story says the Telegraph’s Tom Chivers, but in his view, the New York Times’ could jazz up its headline a little: “‘Letter Raises Questions’? Seriously? That’s how you want to lead this? That’s your best shot?”

Further reading

New York Magazine: ‘Mark Thompson Had No Idea What Was in That Letter From Mark Thompson’
Poynter: ‘New CEO Mark Thompson ends first week with memo to New York Times staff’
New York Times: Mark Thompson
The Times: ‘‘Mark Thompson’s own paper raises doubts’ (£)

*Goslett was the journalist who first (unsuccessfully) tried to interest Fleet Street in the Newsnight/Savile story, before placing it in the Oldie in February 2012. The newspapers’ reluctance to run it is a topic for another blog post…

Law and Media Round Up – 12 November 2012

jtownend — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:05:32 +0000

Since writing this, there have already been new developments in the unfolding crisis at the BBC following its Newsnight programme on child abuse. But this is the media law week that was, rounded up here:

Law and Media Round Up – 12 November 2012 « Inforrm’s Blog.

Law and Media Round Up; new Court of Appeal judgment on libel damages

jtownend — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:34:43 +0000

This week’s round up, previously posted on the Inforrm blog, features Frankie Boyle’s successful libel case, the BBC fallout out following further allegations about Jimmy Savile and media regulation debated in the House of Lords.

Additionally, since the round up was published:

There has been an update to the Table of Media Law Cases. The Court of Appeal has given judgment in two separate cases relating to the amount of libel damages awarded in each.
In Cairns v Modi [2012] EWCA Civ 1382 the Court dismissed an appeal by the defendant against the amount of damages he was to pay the claimant.
In KC v MGN Ltd (included in same judgment – the hearings were conjoined), the Court allowed the appeal by MGN and reduced the amount of damages they were to pay from £75,000 to £50,000. The media summary can be found here [PDF].

Lord Justice Leveson’s report is now expected to be published in late November 2012.

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Law and Media Round Up – 22 October 2012

jtownend — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:03:29 +0000

Belatedly cross-posting from Monday…

The Jimmy Savile scandal continues to dominate news headlines, with focus on the BBC’s decision to drop its Newsnight film. Reports in the The Times (£), Channel 4, the Independent and elsewhere quote internal emails between the production team.

The CPS has extended its series of roundtables on prosecuting cases involving social media to sport: an event in November will include representatives from the FA, the England and Wales Cricket Board, the British Olympic Association and the Rugby Football Union.

The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, has vetoed the release of letters written by Prince Charles to government ministers, after the Upper Tribunal found in favour of disclosure on 18 September 2012 (Evans v Information Commissioner [2012] UKUT 313 (AAC)). Nick Cohen comments on the decision in the Observer here.

Read the Law and Media Round Up [22 October 2012] in full on Inforrm’s Blog.

Law and Media Round Up – 15 October 2012

jtownend — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:28:59 +0000

Reblogged from Inforrm's Blog:

We lead with criminal, rather than civil, law developments relating to media and communications. There have been a spate of prosecutions relating to social media use: a teenager from Lancashire was imprisoned for sick and grossly offensive jokes on his Facebook page about the missing 5 year old April Jones and Madeline McCann; in the same week, Azhar Ahmed was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for posting an offensive update to his Facebook page about British soldiers in Afghanistan, following the death of six British soldiers.

Law and Media Round Up – 8 October 2012

jtownend — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:38:38 +0000

Reblogged from Inforrm's Blog:

We are now a week into the new legal term, and while it's still party conference season for MPs, the Defamation Bill will receive its second reading in the House of Lords on Monday 9 October. A House of Lords Library Note has been published in advance of the second reading. A number of media law cases have already come before the courts this term.