Complaint
The programme included an interview with the musician Roger Waters about Julian Assange, who is currently held in remand pending extradition to the USA. 聽A listener complained that Mr Waters made a number of 鈥渃ontroversial points鈥 about Mr Assange鈥檚 case, with 鈥渘either any challenge to his position, or contrasting points of view being raised鈥.聽 The ECU considered the complaint in relation to the 大象传媒鈥檚 guidelines on Impartiality, which require that an appropriate range of views on controversial matters should be reflected in 大象传媒 output.
Outcome
Mr Waters鈥 interview was preceded by an introduction by the reporter who had interviewed him, in which she explained that he was promoting a Free Assange rally in London the following day. She said that Mr Assange had been imprisoned in London since April 2019 for 鈥減ublishing classified documents about US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan鈥. 聽She went on to explain that he had been charged in the United States with 鈥渉补肠办颈苍驳鈥 and breaches of the Espionage Act. 聽In the interview Mr Rogers was critical of the motives of the US government which he maintained was 鈥渢rying to kill鈥 Mr Assange by sentencing him for long periods if found guilty. 聽He stated that Assange was guilty of no crime and was in his view a journalist attempting to speak truth to power.聽 His views were not challenged by the reporter.聽 In the ECU鈥檚 view, the item聽amounted to a strong statement of one viewpoint in what was self-evidently a controversial matter.聽 A previous reply from the 大象传媒 had suggested that, being devoted primarily to news about the music industry, the programme was not subject to the requirements which would apply to mainstream news and current affairs programmes, but the ECU noted that the guidelines expressed the 大象传媒鈥檚 commitment to achieving due impartiality 鈥渋n all its output鈥, taking account of the subject and nature of the content, the likely audience expectation and any signposting that may influence that expectation.聽 The ECU saw nothing in the expectations attaching to a programme about music industry news, or in the nature of its content, which would warrant presenting only one view on a matter of current controversy without appropriate challenge, and agreed that the item had been in breach of the 大象传媒鈥檚 editorial standards.
Upheld
Further action
The finding was reported to the Board of 大象传媒 Radio and the producer of the programme was asked to listen again to the item in the light of feedback from the management of Radio 6 Music.