Programme cleared for undercover report on former Blackburn MP
Channel 4's been cleared by the broadcasting regulator over its undercover report investigating former Blackburn MP Jack Straw.
Channel 4's been cleared by the broadcasting regulator over its undercover report investigating former Blackburn MP Jack Straw.
Ofcom says the Dispatches programmes on Jack Straw and Sir Malcom Rifkind had not treated the politicians unjustly or unfairly.
The two former foreign secretaries were secretly filmed as part of a cash-for-access investigation.
The programme claimed Jack Straw had boasted that he could use his influence to change European Union rules.
It was said to be on behalf of a commodity firm which paid him ÂŁ60,000 a year. Both Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind have been cleared by the Parliamentary watchdog of any wrongdoing.
Ofcom has now cleared Channel 4 of any breach of the rules.
In its latest bulletin, the watchdog said: In Ofcom's view, the programme was a serious piece of broadcast journalism and that there was a significant public interest in the programme makers secretly filming both Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Mr Straw.
We also considered that there was a genuine public interest justification for Channel 4 using some of the secretly filmed footage in the programme as broadcast in order to bring to the attention of the wider public the conduct of the two prominent parliamentarians who had held a number of senior ministerial positions, in relation to their commercial interests and their attitude to the potential conflict these interests might have with their political commitments.
Ofcom recognised that the allegations made in the programme about Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Mr Straw were serious in nature and that the broadcast of extracts from the secretly filmed footage of their meetings with the undercover reporters had the potential to impact adversely on the MPs' reputations.
However, notwithstanding this, Ofcom considered that the public interest in broadcasting the secretly filmed footage in the programme overrode the potential negative impact the broadcast would have on the MPs.
In coming to that view, we had regard to Channel 4's and the programme maker's rights to freedom of expression, as well as the public's right to receive information and ideas, together with the public interest, and we considered that these, in all the circumstances, outweighed the rights of the two MPs featured.''
Channel 4 Dispatches editor Daniel Pearl said: We are delighted this important piece of public service journalism has been thoroughly vindicated by the independent regulator.
This was a rigorously detailed investigation which paid scrupulous attention to fairness and accuracy at all times.
We are pleased that Ofcom has recognised that the secretly-filmed comments, 'accurately represented the discussions that took place between the MPs and the undercover reporters'.''