A victory for investigative journalism as PCC rejects complaint by Bell Pottinger against The Indepe
A victory for investigative journalism as PCC rejects complaint by Bell Pottinger against The Independent.
The right of investigative journalists to deploy subterfuge when attempting to shed light on the murky relations between politicians and lobbyists has been protected with a benchmark ruling by the Press Complaints Commission.
The regulator rejected a complaint brought against The Independent by the powerful lobbying and communications firm Bell Pottinger, following an exposé which revealed the company’s willingness to represent countries with appalling records on human rights.
It dismissed claims by the company, founded by Margaret Thatcher’s favourite PR executive Lord Bell, that an undercover operation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism was unjustified because Bell Pottinger would have responded openly to the inquiries of journalists. The investigation “raised issues of significant public interest”, the PCC ruled.
The Independent revealed last year how Bell Pottinger had told journalists posing as representatives of the Uzbek cotton industry, who offered limited reform, of how it could use the “dark arts” to help its clients. Bell Pottinger boasted of its relationship with senior Government figures including David Cameron and the Foreign Secretary William Hague and talked of how it could manipulate Google and Wikipedia to minimise negative issues surrounding clients.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/a-victory-for-investigative-journalism-as-pcc-rejects-complaint-by-bell-pottinger-against-the-independent-7978773.html
