TV’s failure to properly scrutinise Boris Johnson’s EU claims a ‘criminal act’
Ex-Channel 4 deputy chair also says media as a whole failed to tackle ‘Monty Phythonesque’ vision of Europe and calls BBC coverage constipated
The Oscar-winning film producer Lord Puttnam has criticised the BBC’s coverage of the EU referendum as “constipated” and accused broadcasters of a “criminal act” by not putting the claims of leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson under more scrutiny.
Puttnam, the former deputy chairman of Channel 4, said the media as a whole had failed to tackle the “Monty Pythonesque vision of Europe” which he said had been allowed to go unchallenged for the last 30 or 40 years.
He said the BBC had effectively been hamstrung by the strict rules on impartiality which govern it, which meant as soon as one campaigner said something it had to find someone to say the opposite.
In particular, Puttnam accused broadcasters of failing to challenge Johnson over footage filmed for the BBC eight years ago in which he appeared to make a passionate case for Turkey joining the European Union.
Puttnam said he had sent the clip to broadcasters, including the BBC director general Tony Hall.
“It’s an absolute abrogation of journalistic responsibility that that clip was not used continually throughout [the referendum debate],” Puttnam said.
“The fact he was able to go unchallenged and make the assertions he was about Turkey [joining the EU] was nothing less than a criminal act.”
The BBC later hit back, saying that Puttnam was “mistaken” as it had used the clip in the run-up to the referendum. A tweet referred to presenter Martha Kearney playing it to Johnson on Radio 4’s World at One.
Challenged about his apparent change of mind in the programme on 22 June, Johnson said: “That’s how I felt then. I still think it would be good for Turkey to join EU, but only on condition UK leaves.”
Speaking at the launch of a report into the future of public service broadcasting on Wednesday, Puttnam said: “I found the BBC’s coverage constipated. I’m not sure you can run programming like that, I don’t think it works really.”
He said during the EU referendum campaign 84% of print media stories had been found to be negative about Europe.
“If you’ve got 50-50 in broadcasting by statute and 84-16 in newsprint, that’s not balance, that’s imbalance,” he said.
“The Monty Pythonesque vision of Europe has gone unchallenged for 30 or 40 years. None of us understood what the long-term consequences were,” he added. “I am still dizzy with what I feel to be a death in the family.”
Puttnam said he had successfully campaigned for the BBC to change the way it covers climate change and suggested it needed to have a similar overhaul of the way it covered issues such as membership of the EU.
Written by John Plunkett and Jane Martinson
Source: The Guardian