Ofcom ruling a win for investigative journalism

Martin Bright's documentary about Ken Livingstone broadcast on Dispatches earlier thsi year has been cleared by Ofcom.

The court of Ken examined Ken Livingstone's record as Mayor of London including issues surrounding the congestion charge,the oil agreement with Hugo Chavez and allegations of drinking.

Ofcom received 12 complaints most concerning the fact that it was impartial and contained unsubstantiated allegations.None of the complaints eminated from the office of the former Mayor.


Channel 4 stated

that viewers were made aware of Martin Bright’s professional position at the start of the programme when he was captioned as the “Political Editor, New Statesman”, and it was also made clear that Martin Bright had once been a supporter of the former Mayor, but was now disappointed by his record. Channel 4 said that the programme did not offer Martin Bright’s personal or authored view of Ken Livingstone’s performance as Mayor but presented the findings of a six month investigation by the programme team. It was Martin Bright’s role to report them. Channel 4 said that, as the programme was clearly promoted as a Dispatches investigation and not an authored or personal view programme, it was not necessary or appropriate to alert viewers otherwise from the outset.

The ruling said that

Investigative journalism plays an essential role in public service broadcasting and is clearly in the public interest. Ofcom considers it of paramount importance that broadcasters, such as Channel 4, continue to explore controversial subject matter. It is inevitable such programmes which tackle highly sensitive subjects will have a high profile. Such controversial programmes may inevitably lead on occasions to complaints.

It wasn't the Standard that won it claims Gilligan

With the result of the London mayoral contest going the way of Boris Johnson,there will be many commentators who will be saying,it was the Standard that won it.

The statement harks back to the Sun's of the 1992 general election.

In today's Independent,the man behind the headlines, Andrew Gilligan,defends his actions saying that he was merely highlighting the problems of Ken's administration

What the Standard can claim is this. Firstly, in the same way as Boris brought together an existing anti-Ken majority, our investigations into Lee Jasper and the missing millions crystallised many Londoners' existing doubts about Livingstone.

adding

they were factual and measured, thoroughly and transparently sourced, widely followed-up, had important real consequences, such as resignations and arrests, and have of course never, in any specific particular, been denied.

According to Gilligan,Livingstone was given the right of reply,something that he failed to take up

We gave Ken six days to answer our questions before publishing. Five months on there are still no answers. Instead, to our incredulity, he unleashed a barrage of abuse against me and the paper that confirmed not just our stories, but the fears about him

So was Ken simply defeated by the national backlash against the party and the Standard played its part by putting his administration under scrutiny.I am sure this will be featuring in future editions of media studies books

Now the Beeb is bias against Ken Livingstone

Labour Home reckons that the BBC are exhibiting a case of anti Ken Livingstone.

The site comments that

Take today’s interview of Ken by Adam Boulton on Sky. Ken repeated what he had said before – that bendy buses have been popular where they’ve been brought in, but they’re only needed on a few busy routes, so there’s no plan to extend it further.
This has now been followed up on the BBC as a u-turn story, saying he’s declared no more bendy buses. There were never going to be any more – but it’s linked under the headline “Mayor to dump bendy buses”.
Then there’s the reporting of the £100 million hole in Boris Johnson’s transport plan. It’s barely been covered on BBC news. A huge planning gaffe that independent experts have verified has gone virtually unnoticed on the beeb. That should have been a major election issue this week.