PRESS GANG

IN JULY the BBC broadcast one of the worst examples of rogue journalism in British media history.

The Panorama programme Is Labour Anti-Semitic? was biased and dishonest — a shameful blot on the Corporation’s reputation.

A Press Gang investigation found the programme:

— broke the BBC’s own editorial guidelines

— broke Ofcom’s broadcasting code which is based on the 2003 Communications Act

— and was, therefore, unlawful.

The Labour Party branded the 59 minute programme an “authored polemic” by reporter John Ware.

It was an “overtly one-sided intervention in political controversy by the BBC,” the party said. 

There were more than 1,593 complaints about the programme.

The BBC dismissed them all:

The BBC stands by its journalism and we completely reject any accusations of bias or dishonesty. 

Before April 2017 the BBC was judge and jury in its own case.

But since then it has come under the umbrella of Ofcom, one of the UK’s most powerful regulators.

But, in December 2019, Ofcom decided that it would not investigate the programme.

The Press Gang investigation into how this programme came to be made has already seen five articles published:

Enter Ofcom tells the story of how the BBC casually brushed aside complaints.

BBC v Ofcom shows how Panorama reporter John Ware told just one side of a complex issue. 

Indictment includes a link to the interim report published just before the December 2019 election.

Here is the cover:

The report identified ten possible charges against the BBC for breaking its own Editorial Guidelines. 

And found it guilty on nine counts.

Scritptease looks at the filming and editing techniques used to blacken Jeremy Corbyn and Labour.

The article also includes a full script of the programme.

Black And White looked at the settlement between the Jewish Chronicle and the Labour activist Audrey White.

The paper paid damages and costs after it made false allegations about White’s role in the Liverpool Riverside constituency.

The case also throws light on the Panorama programme which alleged that Labour MP Louise Ellman had been targeted by left-wingers.

The investigation continues …

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THE BBC has been plagued by scandal over the last couple of years.

Huge salaries, massive pay-offs, the Savile affair and the disastrous Newsnight accusation that Lord McAlpine was a paedophile have beset the Corporation.

But there have also been problems in the regions.

In Wales questions have been raised about patronage and nepotism.

The current director, Rhodri Talfan Davies, comes from a powerful media family in Wales.

RHODRI TALFAN DAVIES
THE CURRENT director of BBC Wales — appointed without any experience of programme-making in Wales — is a member of a powerful media dynasty.   Photo: BBC Wales

His appointment in 2011 is shrouded in mystery.

He was one of the candidates in the first round of interviews in February.

The interviewing panel, which included then Deputy Director General Mark Byford, decided not to appoint.

Four months later, Director General Mark Thompson, announced that the new Director Wales would be … Rhodri Talfan Davies.

Davies was just 40.

He’d never made a television programme in Wales.

And he lived in England.

His father is Geraint Talfan Davies who occupied the post from 1990 to 2000.

Geraint Talfan Davies was succeeded by family friend Menna Richards who held the post until 2011.

She had promoted Rhodri Talfan Davies to the key post of Head of Strategy  in 2009.

These issues are explored in the articles The Son Of The Man From Uncle and In The Name Of The Father? published on the Rebecca website.

BBC Wales has made it clear it will not be answering any further questions on the subject.

A spokesman said:

 … we will not be commenting in future other than in truly exceptional circumstances …

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