Friday, September 17, 2004 8:23 PM
August Panel at Press Club Sorts It Out
BY ANTHEA RAYMOND
Who benefits when information gets out? This question helped shape the Press Club’s August 4 panel on changes at the BBC after the so-called “Neil Report.”
The BBC conducted an internal audit after being criticized by the British government for its handling of Andrew Gilligan’s “unfounded” reporting and its unfortunate outcome—the suicide of its sole anonymous source, weapons expert David Kelly. The Neil Report recommends that the BBC put lawyers in newsrooms to vet breaking stories with potentially defamatory allegations.
“Corporate lawyers in the newsroom aren’t okay, but First Amendment lawyers might be,” said columnist and talk-show Patt Morrison. First-Amendment lawyer Jens Koepke, another panelist, argued for discretion: for knowing when to let informa- tion out and when to give it time to bake— as the BBC probably should have done with Gilligan’s story.
But Koepke also said that US laws protect media better from libel suits than British ones.
Released earlier this summer, the Neil Report also calls for editors to vet anonymous sources and to limit live interviews with BBC reporters on breaking stories.
David Willis, the BBC’s West Coast cor- respondent for Television and Radio—another panelist—was skeptical: “Correspondents will still have a lot of slack despite the mis- deeds of Andrew Gilligan.” But Willis said the new guidelines should encourage reporters and editors to collaborate.
Joining Willlis on the panel was James Tuck, who worked at the BBC as an editor, producer, and presenter for over a decade. Now the afternoon producer at KNX 1070, Tuck said politics helped shape the Neil Report—particularly, the BBC’s stormy relationship with the British government: “The Neil Report tries to redeem without giving too much away.”
Joe Ames, of the Orange County Register, rounded out the panel. The Register, rare among major newspapers, does not allow anonymous sources in stories that it generates.
The panel split on how the reforms might influence other media. But it agreed the reforms highlight challenges now facing a 24-7 news industry. As Jens Koepke summed it up, “What’s objectivity? What’s balance? And can it be administered from on high?”
