Complaint
A listener complained about an interview with Mark Littlewood of the Institute of Economic Affairs, arguing the programme should have explained that the IEA does not聽聽聽 disclose where its funding comes from. 聽The complainant also said Mr Littlewood was not challenged or corrected when he claimed he had known Liz Truss for many years and he couldn鈥檛 think of another time when she had changed her mind on anything. 聽The ECU considered whether the interview met the 大象传媒 standards of due accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
The Editorial Guidelines say the 大象传媒 should not automatically assume that contributors from outside organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities and think-tanks) are unbiased. 聽Appropriate information about their affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context. 聽In this case the discussion was about the Government鈥檚 U-turn on its decision to cut the top rate of income tax. 聽Mr Littlewood was introduced as the Director-General of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the organisation was described as 鈥渁 free market think tank鈥. 聽It was clear from his contribution that he was in favour of the original proposal to abolish the 45p rate for those earning more than 拢150,000. 聽In the ECU鈥檚 judgment the description given by the programme provided listeners with appropriate information about Mr Littlewood and the position of his organisation to judge his contribution, and the information that the IEA does not disclose all its sources of funding would not have materially affected their ability to do so.
In the interview Mr Littlewood also expressed his concern at the implication of this U-turn for other Government policy. 聽It was in that context that his remarks about Liz Truss needed to be understood. 聽In the ECU鈥檚 view it was clear Mr Littlewood was suggesting he thought the Prime Minister鈥檚 credibility was under threat and that listeners would have understood he considered her to be someone who stuck to her guns, albeit that he believed her position had been undermined by the tax policy U-turn in the face of opposition from Tory backbench MPs. 聽In the context of the discussion, there was therefore no requirement to challenge this view or draw attention to occasions when Ms Truss may have changed her mind in the past.
Not Upheld