By John Plunkett | The Guardian
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Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4 head of news and current affairs, told the Lords communications committee that programmes such as the broadcaster's investigation into alleged war crimes during the final weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war faced "worldwide PR exercises".
Byrne said Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, which was broadcast in June and featured graphic footage of alleged war crimes, faced a demonstration outside Channel 4's London headquarters – which she claimed had been organised by the Sri Lankan ministry of defence.
Veteran Panorama journalist John Ware, appearing before the same Lords committee on Tuesday, said that the cost of dealing with a concerted campaign of complaints about a recent edition of BBC1's Panorama was more than it cost to make the programme itself.
Although Ware did not reveal the edition of Panorama in question, it is understood to be Death in the Med, about the Israeli boarding of the Mavi Marmara, which aired in August 2010.
Death in the Med prompted 2,000 calls to the BBC, a quarter of them part of a lobby organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. The BBC Trust ruled in April this year that it was "accurate and impartial" overall but upheld three out of 51 points raised in complaints.
Byrne said the impact of PR companies on television current affairs was something "not just us but the whole of society needs to be aware of".
"They will not just try to threaten us with libel actions, they will launch worldwide PR exercises against us," she told the Lords communications committee, which is holding an inquiry into the future of investigative journalism.
"They will try to make complaints against our bosses, leak stories against us to newspaper diaries, they will go to our regulator [Ofcom] and make potentially scores of complaints against us.
"If we are doing a really big investigation that could take six months to a year … We have to be ready that we could be living with an investigation for a year after it has gone out.
Byrne added: "Stories have appeared, for example, about our Sri Lankan investigation all over the world in a highly organised way," she told the committee.
"They appear to be normal stories and they are not – they are obviously coming from somewhere. Demonstrations have taken place in the street – there was one outside Channel 4 – and this demonstration had been organised by the Sri Lankan ministry of defence."
Ware said investigative programmes such as Panorama were at risk of being overwhelmed by complaints from PR companies and lobby groups.
"A recent Panorama was cleared in almost every respect save for some minor matters. I'm pretty sure the bill for that was significantly more than the actual transmission itself," he added.
"That's fine – it's a public service broadcaster – but what I'm saying is there aren't the funds, the resources, to deal with the aftercare and the aftercare is getting greater because of the lobby groups."
Ware's concerns about concerted complaints campaigns which were "utterly determined" with a "never say die" attitude were echoed by Panorama editor Tom Giles.
He said PR companies would start "Twitter bombing" during the course of a programme in a bid to discredit its investigation.
"PR is very wise to it. Ten or 15 people will start tweeting from a particular point of view … it has invariably been set up by a PR organisation," added Giles.
He said dealing with serial complainants, who go first to BBC management before taking it to the BBC Trust and the appeals process "takes up an enormous amount of time and effort and we have to take these things seriously".
"The threat of a mass outbreak of legal action, legal letters from particularly powerful groups, we have had that on an increasing level on Panorama," he added.
"I hope we are still pretty rigorous in facing it off where it needs to be faced off. But there is an increasing amount of spin, PR, and people who are very clever at … stopping us putting material out."
Asked to what degree the BBC had been intimidated by News Corporation over its phone-hacking coverage, Giles claimed a story had been placed in one News International title in an effort to undermine Panorama.
He said the story had appeared after a Panorama investigation into computer hacking at the publisher.
"For my own part I wasn't [intimidated]," added Giles. "In terms of News International and News Corporation there were people within News Corporation who we did deal with and did ring me. When we put a film out about computer hacking there were stories put in one News International paper that were clearly designed to smear Panorama as a result.
"On that level, there was some pressure," added Giles. "In terms of the top corporate level [at the BBC] you would have to ask the top corporate level."
Giles did not specify which title or story he was referring to. However, the Times ran a story about Panorama the day after the current affairs show's investigation into News International in March this year.
© The Guardian
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