Dispatches has attracted some viewer criticism in recent months over two particular programmes: The Trouble with Boris, that looked at Boris Johnson’s first year as Mayor of London and The Problem Princes, that investigated how the activities of the royal princes are shaping the modern monarchy. In light of this feedback, it seemed like a good time to sit down with Channel 4’s deputy head of news and current affairs – who is responsible for the 40 or so Dispatches films commissioned each year – and put some of your criticisms to him.
He explained that Dispatches sets out to cover stories of national importance that are of significant public interest, in a way that will add to the sum of existing knowledge. Using that yardstick, he believes that both Boris Johnson’s mayoralty and the activities of the royal princes are legitimate topics for Dispatches to cover and strongly denied the implied criticism that these programmes were not up to Dispatches’ usual standard.
While accepting that both Boris and the younger princes in particular were much loved public figures – and, as such, any criticism of them would be likely to upset their supporters – he felt that both programmes had been fair to those featured. He also explained that Dispatches always puts any allegations to the subject in writing ahead of broadcast giving them a reasonable time in which to respond – and when that response comes, fairly reflecting it within the body of the programme.
Some viewers had been critical of both programmes for apparently being biased either politically or against the monarchy, so it was interesting to hear that over the past few years the monarchy has only featured twice in over 60 domestic stories covered by Dispatches, and that many more programmes will have been critical of the Labour Party, by virtue of it being the governing party, than of the Conservatives. The Ofcom Code requires any programme to be fair to the subjects but does not oblige a programme like Dispatches to report equally on good and bad points of a subject or an issue – what Dispatches aims to do is uncover facts that viewers should be aware of and allow each of us to form our own views based on the broader picture we then have.
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A quick update to let you know that Ofcom has found this programme to be not in breach of the due impartiality requirements of the Broadcasting Code – their findings are on page 45 of this Bulletin http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/prog_cb/obb136/Issue136.pdf
I think that the Dispatches programme is brilliant especially compared to the generally pathetic and too short Panorama- politicians complain when you are doing your job properly -keep it up.
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