Complaint
A viewer complained about a report from the 大象传媒鈥檚 Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell which followed the publication of Prince Harry鈥檚 book 鈥淪pare鈥. The complainant claimed Mr Witchell, gave a 鈥減ersonal very very biased, in favour of the royal family, view鈥, was 鈥clearly editorialising鈥 and 鈥渕aking up their own views as opposed to reporting FACTS objectively鈥. The ECU considered whether the report met the required 大象传媒 standards of impartiality.
Outcome
One of the Public Purposes of the 大象传媒 is 鈥淭o provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them鈥.听 The Editorial Guidelines set out how this is achieved and the section on Impartiality makes it clear the 大象传媒 should 鈥済ive due weight to events, opinion and the main strands of argument鈥 when covering news events. In this case, Mr Witchell鈥檚 report included a number of the claims and allegations made by Prince Harry in his book and several extracts from television interviews he had given in which he spoke about his relationship with his family.听 This ensured the audience heard Prince Harry鈥檚 point of view in his own words and were aware of his explanation for publishing his book.听 Mr Witchell also explained there had been no formal response from the Royal Family.
One of the roles of a specialist correspondent is to use their experience and knowledge to provide listeners and viewers with informed analysis of a news story.听 Mr Witchell was therefore entitled to draw on his knowledge and understanding of the events and individuals involved, informed by on and off the record conversations he has held with people close to the story.听 It follows it was reasonable for him to conclude, for example, 鈥淭he book鈥檚 contents will be deeply uncomfortable for the Royal Family and particularly for William鈥 and to indicate how he thought King Charles and Prince William would respond to Prince Harry鈥檚 request to sit down and discuss the issues between them.
Not Upheld