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Lord McAlpine given no right of reply on Newsnight film about abuse claims BBC in turmoil as Newsnight's Tory abuse story falls apart
(about 4 hours 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's accusations that a Tory peer had been involved in child abuse have unravelled after its star witness admitted he had mistaken his identity and it emerged that the broadcaster had decided not to contact the "leading Conservative" for a right of reply before going to air.
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. The BBC decided it was not appropriate to contact Lord McAlpine, the former treasurer of the Tory party, on Friday of last week because it had no intention of naming him in the Newsnight film, opting instead to accuse a "leading politician of the Thatcher years" of being involved in child sexual abuse linked to care homes in North Wales.
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. However, the accuracy of Newsnight's claims collapsed after the Guardian suggested that McAlpine was a victim of "mistaken identity".
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". On Friday McAlpine issued a strongly-worded statement saying that reports linking him to allegations of abuse at a North Wales children's home were "wholly false and seriously defamatory".
The name of Lord McAlpine, who now lives in Italy, swiftly began circulating on the internet. As questions mounted about the veracity of the allegations, Steve Messham, the man who appeared on Newsnight on camera saying he had been abused by the politician, admitted he was wrong. Messham, making a public statement of apology, said he had accused the wrong person: "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."
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." Earlier, Lord McAlpine's solicitor said that he had "no choice" but to take legal action. Andrew Reid told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "What I think is so wrong is that Newsnight trailed this and encouraged people that some major revelation would come about and that they were going to name someone.
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. "Then they took the coward's way out, they ran the programme, then told everyone where to go to find [McAlpine's name in connection with the allegations]. That's creating the defamation."
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". Paradoxically Newsnight is already under fire for failing to broadcast a previous investigation into child sexual abuse conducted by Jimmy Savile – with its editor, Peter Rippon, obliged to step aside, after making erroneous claims as to why he chose to abort the inquiry into the late Jim'll Fix It star.
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." Against that backdrop, Newsnight's most recent investigation into child sexual abuse was keenly anticipated as providing an opportunity to make amends. Organised in conjunction with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, information about Newsnight's film of last week leaked out the day of transmission when Iain Overton, the editor of the Bureau tweeted: "If all goes well we've got a Newsnight out tonight about a very senior political figure who is a paedophile." The Bureau's Angus Stickler, a former BBC journalist, had persuaded Newsnight to put out the film he was preparing.
McAlpine's solicitor, Andrew Reid, said on Friday evening that he had "no choice" but to take legal action over the claims. Had Newsnight successfully contacted the peer ahead of transmitting the film, it might have been given Lord McAlpine's denials. Another journalist, Michael Crick, of Channel 4 News, who had become aware of Newsnight's investigation, spoke to the peer twice on Friday 2 November – the day of transmission – and was told that McAlpine was prepared to sue the BBC, had he been named.
Reid, of RMPI solicitors, indicated that McAlpine would sue the BBC after he accused Newsnight of "creating the defamation". The Newsnight film, broadcast on Friday 2 November, was based on an interview with 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 film itself was fronted by Stickler.
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. It is understood that the production team at Newsnight had been told in confidence by Messham that Lord McAlpine was the man he was referring to.
"They've done a very, very good job of severely damaging Lord McAlpine's reputation." The production team, was headed by acting editor Liz Gibbons, and overseen by Adrian van Klaveren, the controller of Radio 5 Live, on secondment to oversee any coverage relating to Savile and child sexual abuse more generally.
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. Despite the secrecy at the BBC, the name of Lord McAlpine, who now lives in Italy, swiftly began circulating on the internet. The peer had previously been linked to allegations of abuse at care homes in north Wales, but several reporters who covered the Waterhouse public inquiry that examined the claims at the end of the 1990s were sceptical of the link.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". The Guardian had reported that Lord McAlpine was a victim of "mistaken identity" – creating the first doubts about the accuracy of the Newsnight investigation fronted by Stickler. McAlpine yesterday repeated details that he had shared with Channel 4's Michael Crick a week ago, stating that he had only ever visited Wrexham once in his life.
There was also criticism of people who had named McAlpine on Twitter, including Guardian columnist George Monbiot.
The journalist admitted it was stupid of him to have named McAlpine on Twitter during a week of fevered internet speculation, but Reid, representing McAlpine said: "We are obliged for his apology but unfortunately he is yet another person who has encouraged this torrent of disgusting and untrue allegations."
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, state: "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."
BBC sources said that the broadcaster was preparing to issue a formal retraction of the aspect of its original report, in the light of Messham's statement. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
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