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| Lord McAlpine given no right of reply on Newsnight film about abuse claims | Lord McAlpine given no right of reply on Newsnight film about abuse claims |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Newsnight chose not to contact Lord McAlpine ahead of broadcasting a film that appears to have wrongly accused a "leading politician of the Thatcher years" – widely understood to be the former Conservative party treasurer – of being involved in the sexual abuse of a former child resident of a care home in North Wales. | Newsnight chose not to contact Lord McAlpine ahead of broadcasting a film that appears to have wrongly accused a "leading politician of the Thatcher years" – widely understood to be the former Conservative party treasurer – of being involved in the sexual abuse of a former child resident of a care home in North Wales. |
| Executives and journalists involved with the BBC2 programme, fronted by Jeremy Paxman and Kirsty Wark, concluded that there was no need to contact the peer before broadcasting the anonymised accusations on Friday last week because Newsnight had no intention of naming him, according to BBC sources. | Executives and journalists involved with the BBC2 programme, fronted by Jeremy Paxman and Kirsty Wark, concluded that there was no need to contact the peer before broadcasting the anonymised accusations on Friday last week because Newsnight had no intention of naming him, according to BBC sources. |
| Had Newsnight done so, they might have heard Lord McAlpine's denials. Another journalist, Michael Crick, from Channel 4 News, spoke to the peer twice on Friday 2 November – and was told that McAlpine had only once been to Wrexham, the town where the abuse was alleged to have taken place. | Had Newsnight done so, they might have heard Lord McAlpine's denials. Another journalist, Michael Crick, from Channel 4 News, spoke to the peer twice on Friday 2 November – and was told that McAlpine had only once been to Wrexham, the town where the abuse was alleged to have taken place. |
| The Newsnight film, broadcast that evening, was based on an interview with Steve Messham, a victim of sexual abuse in care homes in North Wales in the 1970s. Newsnight chose not to name the politician – but Gavin Esler introduced the programme by saying "this man says a leading Conservative from the time was one of his abusers". | The Newsnight film, broadcast that evening, was based on an interview with Steve Messham, a victim of sexual abuse in care homes in North Wales in the 1970s. Newsnight chose not to name the politician – but Gavin Esler introduced the programme by saying "this man says a leading Conservative from the time was one of his abusers". |
| The name of Lord McAlpine, who now lives in Italy, swiftly began circulating on the internet. | |
| Shortly after, Messham made a statement of apology, saying there was a case of mistaken identity: "I want to offer my sincere and humble apologies to him and his family. After seeing a picture in the past hour of the individual concerned, this not the person I identified by photograph presented to me by the police in the early 1990s, who told me the man in the photograph was Lord McAlpine." | |
| This morning McAlpine finally broke his long silence to say that reports linking him to North Wales child abuse are "wholly false and seriously defamatory" – and to also say that he had only been to Wrexham on one occasion. | |
| Giving those criticised a right of reply is a staple of journalism – and required by broadcasting regulations. Ofcom's broadcasting code, which regulates the BBC when it comes to fairness and privacy, says that if a programme "alleges wrongdoing or incompetence or makes other significant allegations [against an individual], those concerned should normally be given an appropriate and timely opportunity to respond". | Giving those criticised a right of reply is a staple of journalism – and required by broadcasting regulations. Ofcom's broadcasting code, which regulates the BBC when it comes to fairness and privacy, says that if a programme "alleges wrongdoing or incompetence or makes other significant allegations [against an individual], those concerned should normally be given an appropriate and timely opportunity to respond". |
| The BBC's editorial guideline, section 6, on fairness, contributors and consent, states: "When our output contains allegations of wrongdoing, iniquity or incompetence or lays out a strong and damaging critique of an individual or organisation, those criticised should normally have a right of reply, unless there is an editorial justification to proceed without it." | |
| McAlpine's solicitor, Andrew Reid, said on Friday evening that he had "no choice" but to take legal action over the claims. | |
| Reid, of RMPI solicitors, indicated that McAlpine would sue the BBC after he accused Newsnight of "creating the defamation". | |
| He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "What I think is so wrong is that Newsnight trailered this and encouraged people that some major revelation would come about and that they were going to name someone. Then they took the cowards' way out, they ran the programme, then told everyone where to go to find it [McAlpine's name in connection with the allegations]. That's creating the defamation. | |
| "They've done a very, very good job of severely damaging Lord McAlpine's reputation." | |
| In a statement to PM, the BBC maintained that it was in the public interest to air the allegations, and pointed out that it did not name any public figure for legal reasons. | |
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