Press Release
Dispatches - shoddy research and unbalanced reporting
21-1-2008 047
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said:
`Tonight’s Dispatches programme presented by Martin Bright was grossly biased in its reporting and extraordinarily shoddy in its research. It is clear that such a programme should not have been broadcast in the run up to an election without balancing programmes on the other candidates.
`The dire quality of its research is evident. Martin Bright even claims that the Mayor has to resign before each election in order to campaign. This is simply untrue.
`The political balance of the programme was equally ludicrous. Neither the Mayor, nor anybody representing him was invited to appear on the programme to answer an hour of politically motivated attacks on him.
`The programme was simply a crude, and ineffectual, attempt at a hatchet job on Ken Livingstone by a totally biased journalist who has openly declared that his aim is to persuade people not to re-elect Mr Livingstone as Mayor of London. It is a violation of the most elementary rules of impartiality and objectivity that Channel 4 should have broadcast such a diatribe shortly before an election without any balance at all and with no suggestion that similar programmes will be broadcast in relation to other candidates for Mayor.
`The main source for the programme is a discredited and embittered former employee, Atma Singh, who failed to respond to a request for help from the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism squad in February 2005 and then failed to contact City Hall during or after the terrorist attacks on London on 7 July and 21 July 2005.
`It has now been revealed that on 22 March 2005 Mr Singh set up his own private company, of which he was Managing Director, in clear breach of the GLA’s Code of Ethics under which any such activity must be declared and agreed by the GLA.
`Channel 4 should apologise to Londoners for this gross attempt to interfere in its Mayoral election.’
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