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Log inBBC admits misleading interviewee
BBC admits misleading interviewee
by lefty on Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:58 am
Published: 25 April 2008 11:29 Author: Robin Parker
The BBC has admitted breaching its editorial standards after a "naïve" in-house production team misled a contributor to the BBC3 documentary Amy: My Body for Bucks.
Events promoter Clement Dortie, who featured in the documentary, is now pursuing an Ofcom challenge.
The BBC re-edited the documentary after its first two airings to take out a sequence in which Dortie employs the film's subject, Amy Hall, as a model at a post-Brit Awards party.
The earlier version was also taken off iPlayer after Dortie met with the BBC earlier this week and replaced with the re-edit.
The programme was an observational documentary about Hall's life as a single mother, student and lapdancer.
But at Hall's request, the producers chose not to inform Dortie that she was a lapdancer.
Dortie said he agreed to employ her because he was told she was a single mother who wanted to be a model and agreed to pay her £75 and give her a goodie bag from the event.
Dortie told Broadcast that had he known of her background, he would not have employed her.
He claimed that he was only told she was a lapdancer, and informed of the name of the film, on 19 April, the day before its BBC3 broadcast.
In his challenge to Ofcom, Dortie accuses the BBC of breaking section 7.3 of the regulator's rules, which governs fairness; section 8.9, which covers practises to be followed; and rule 8.10 on gathering information and contribution for one subject and used in a totally different subject.
In his complaint, he writes: "I would request that Ofcom investigate how a full time stripper has been able to severely affect the editorial stance and director control of a major BBC documentary team and resulting programme, therefore covering up the true nature of the programme and in effect the BBC broadcasting a sex-based documentary which in essence is fake."
Dortie is also in talks with lawyers about whether the film could be seen to have damaged his reputation as an events promoter.
Executive producer Samantha Anstiss, who met with Dortie earlier this week, accepted his complaint and claimed that Hall herself had chosen not to disclose her background.
"The team made a mistake and should have made you fully aware of the context in which your contribution was being included," she wrote in an e-mail seen by Broadcast.
"In going along with this, the team failed in their duty to be fair and open with you. It was naïve of them and wrong not to give you a fuller and detailed picture of the documentary."
In response, Dortie said in an e-mail copied to BBC director-general Mark Thompson and head of BBC newsroom Peter Horrocks: "It upsets me that the BBC, which as you know I hold in such high respect, has done this. Particularly as you were dealing with a vulnerable struggling single mother and the world of the sex industry… I still do not fully understand why the BBC were so eager to … cover up on behalf of Amy. What exact power and manipulation did Amy have over the BBC for this to happen?"
The BBC said in a statement: "Having reviewed the programme and having met Mr Dortie and listened carefully to his concerns that he did not know the programme was about her life as a lapdancer we accept that this was unfair to Mr Dortie. We have decided to remove his contribution from any future repeats of the programme."
Amy: My Body For Bucks was filmed, produced and directed by Dan Gooding for BBC Manchester. It aired on 20 April on BBC3 and was repeated later that evening.
(Broadcast)
The BBC has admitted breaching its editorial standards after a "naïve" in-house production team misled a contributor to the BBC3 documentary Amy: My Body for Bucks.
Events promoter Clement Dortie, who featured in the documentary, is now pursuing an Ofcom challenge.
The BBC re-edited the documentary after its first two airings to take out a sequence in which Dortie employs the film's subject, Amy Hall, as a model at a post-Brit Awards party.
The earlier version was also taken off iPlayer after Dortie met with the BBC earlier this week and replaced with the re-edit.
The programme was an observational documentary about Hall's life as a single mother, student and lapdancer.
But at Hall's request, the producers chose not to inform Dortie that she was a lapdancer.
Dortie said he agreed to employ her because he was told she was a single mother who wanted to be a model and agreed to pay her £75 and give her a goodie bag from the event.
Dortie told Broadcast that had he known of her background, he would not have employed her.
He claimed that he was only told she was a lapdancer, and informed of the name of the film, on 19 April, the day before its BBC3 broadcast.
In his challenge to Ofcom, Dortie accuses the BBC of breaking section 7.3 of the regulator's rules, which governs fairness; section 8.9, which covers practises to be followed; and rule 8.10 on gathering information and contribution for one subject and used in a totally different subject.
In his complaint, he writes: "I would request that Ofcom investigate how a full time stripper has been able to severely affect the editorial stance and director control of a major BBC documentary team and resulting programme, therefore covering up the true nature of the programme and in effect the BBC broadcasting a sex-based documentary which in essence is fake."
Dortie is also in talks with lawyers about whether the film could be seen to have damaged his reputation as an events promoter.
Executive producer Samantha Anstiss, who met with Dortie earlier this week, accepted his complaint and claimed that Hall herself had chosen not to disclose her background.
"The team made a mistake and should have made you fully aware of the context in which your contribution was being included," she wrote in an e-mail seen by Broadcast.
"In going along with this, the team failed in their duty to be fair and open with you. It was naïve of them and wrong not to give you a fuller and detailed picture of the documentary."
In response, Dortie said in an e-mail copied to BBC director-general Mark Thompson and head of BBC newsroom Peter Horrocks: "It upsets me that the BBC, which as you know I hold in such high respect, has done this. Particularly as you were dealing with a vulnerable struggling single mother and the world of the sex industry… I still do not fully understand why the BBC were so eager to … cover up on behalf of Amy. What exact power and manipulation did Amy have over the BBC for this to happen?"
The BBC said in a statement: "Having reviewed the programme and having met Mr Dortie and listened carefully to his concerns that he did not know the programme was about her life as a lapdancer we accept that this was unfair to Mr Dortie. We have decided to remove his contribution from any future repeats of the programme."
Amy: My Body For Bucks was filmed, produced and directed by Dan Gooding for BBC Manchester. It aired on 20 April on BBC3 and was repeated later that evening.
(Broadcast)
