Newsnight team's 'basic blunders' damned by BBC's own investigation

Newsnight made allegations towards Lord McAlpine, a Tori politician, by linking him to the child abuse scandal in North Wales. These types of allegation were not easily backed up with sources or evidence hence, fatal errors were made in regards to Lord McAlpine. The investigation, led by BBC’s Scotland director Ken Macquarie, during their investigations; there was much confusion as to who was in charge of this investigation. It has been said that Liz Gibbons, the former editor of the programme is likely to be fired.

There were many mistakes that could have easily been avoided. The team, part of this report, failed do the most important thing when it comes to journalism, this was evidence. The team did not have any reliable evidence or anything to prove that the allegations were true. Based on the 12 Ethical Journalistic Standards, there were many rules that were evidently broken. The first rule ‘Produce no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, material status or sexual orientation.’ was broken. The broadcast on Newsnight did cause some controversy and dispute, as material produced was towards a man of the elderly. These allegations also lead to hatred as many peers of Lord McAlpine were shocked as false accusations were made.

Another basic ‘blunder’ made by the team leading this invsetigation was time management. There was not enough time spent on this report, or on the research. Another major problem was the absence of both the Editor and the Deputy Editor, as this gave the team great pressure as both Editors were not at the scene. Every story before being broadcasted is always run through the Editor but they were not present. Two main rules of the Ethical Laws of Journalism were broken, 'Strive to ensure information is disseminated, is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair, and Obtain Material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means.' Both state that information should be honest, reliable and accurate, the team failed to do so, hence this investigation did not excute as well. This case is a clear sign of defamation, and therefore it is being investigated by OFCOM.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2231984/Two-BBC-executives-face-sack-botched-Newsnight-investigation.html