:00:26. > :00:31.Welcome. Since the extent of the phone hacking scandal started to
:00:31. > :00:35.emerge, trusting journalists has plummeted to levels associated with
:00:35. > :00:42.estate agents and politicians. In response, the Prime Minister has
:00:42. > :00:45.set up the Leveson Inquiry which this week began to hear witnesses.
:00:46. > :00:53.Prompted by the behaviour of the press, the inquiry looks certain to
:00:54. > :01:00.impinge upon journalism. What impact might it have on the BBC
:01:00. > :01:08.Quest --? I cannot for the life of me think of any conceivable source
:01:08. > :01:14.except those voice messages. felt like such an intrusion into a
:01:14. > :01:17.really, really private moment. parade of celebrities and other
:01:17. > :01:24.victims or brought testimony to a widespread intrusion into people's
:01:25. > :01:28.private lives. It was too much for some viewers such as Sam, who wrote.
:01:28. > :01:32.Certainly for Milly Dowler's family it is disgusting. That is on a
:01:32. > :01:37.personal level. The media like stories about its own industry.
:01:37. > :01:42.This inquiry is not main news and the media need to start acting as
:01:42. > :01:47.if it is the story of the year. Terry wanted to see more of it.
:01:47. > :01:50.With so much interest in the live coverage, while worse Prime
:01:50. > :02:00.Minister's questions being broadcast simultaneously on three
:02:00. > :02:04.of your channels? Another viewer had a different perspective which
:02:04. > :02:12.regards to the Leveson Inquiry. Do you not think the public is hugely
:02:12. > :02:22.to blame? Journalists Blake -- break laws because they are --
:02:22. > :02:24.
:02:24. > :02:29.because the public is voyeuristic. Would -- the judge's questions over
:02:29. > :02:32.the limits of investigative journalism. How the media should be
:02:32. > :02:37.policed and how to restore confidence. Ramifications for many
:02:37. > :02:42.organisations including the BBC. To discuss what those might be I am
:02:42. > :02:51.joined by the BBC's director of editorial standards, by a
:02:51. > :02:56.documentary maker, and by a journalist and chief executive.
:02:56. > :02:58.First of all, are you worried there might be some negative implications
:02:58. > :03:07.flowing from the Leveson Inquiry that might affect BBC journalism?
:03:07. > :03:13.Yes. Leavis and is entirely right to look at what he is doing. Their
:03:13. > :03:17.answer of bullying and they need to be looked at very hard. There is no
:03:17. > :03:22.another type of journalism. My
:03:22. > :03:30.constant complaint is not this kind of journalism. It is not that it is
:03:30. > :03:37.too strong. It is that it is too issues of the last 20 years, if you
:03:37. > :03:44.look at the bankers, the weapons of mass destruction, ask yourself, did
:03:44. > :03:53.journalists and find out too much or too little? David, is there a
:03:53. > :04:03.danger that BBC journalism could be unbiased way in which you asked
:04:03. > :04:07.
:04:07. > :04:15.always be better. It is very difficult to disprove. I do not get
:04:15. > :04:21.there is a lack of robustness to the BBC's journalism. Yes, should
:04:21. > :04:26.we do better? It was not the media's finest hour. Roger you are
:04:26. > :04:33.a documentary maker. You are interested in high media standards.
:04:33. > :04:36.Are you Werribee could be unforeseen consequences for -- are
:04:36. > :04:46.you worried they could be unforeseen consequences? They could
:04:46. > :04:50.be good. If he manages to quantify the laws, that would be a good
:04:50. > :04:54.thing for ours. The one threat I could see that would be negative
:04:54. > :05:02.would be that the cost of investigations remains high. The
:05:02. > :05:09.legal threats are expensive. As the cuts for the next couple of years,
:05:09. > :05:13.then there are more cuts in 2013, and it becomes a vulnerable target.
:05:13. > :05:18.You do not know how much it will cost to when you're going to
:05:18. > :05:22.deliver. Roger makes an important point. It is important that there
:05:22. > :05:26.is not a reaction that goes beyond what is necessary to solve the
:05:26. > :05:31.problems that it is addressing and th ths a chilling effect on
:05:31. > :05:36.those doing investigative journalism in the public interest.
:05:36. > :05:45.This is really good stuff. The public interest issues. We hope he
:05:45. > :05:54.will introduce that into the next round of legislation. We need a
:05:54. > :06:04.public definition of what public interest is. It's with our partners,
:06:04. > :06:11.
:06:11. > :06:19.we have been leading libel reform. London has become a town called Sue,
:06:19. > :06:24.leading the world. We have a small section harassing and haranguing.
:06:24. > :06:27.In the BBC, there is a web of compliance. They're all of these
:06:27. > :06:34.points that have come out of various mistakes in the past. I
:06:34. > :06:37.worry that apart from programmes like Panorama and others, they is a
:06:37. > :06:44.timidity at the BBC and there is no career progression for causing
:06:44. > :06:51.trouble. Is there a danger, one that that is true, and that it
:06:51. > :06:57.might get worse? It is a curious time to be criticising a web of
:06:57. > :07:00.compliance when there is a complete lack of compliance at the moment
:07:00. > :07:06.that has copped the tabloid newspapers into the situation where
:07:06. > :07:14.they have to be investigated. In those areas we have got things
:07:14. > :07:19.broadly right. Lord Justice Leveson may have recommendations. But where
:07:19. > :07:25.we may have to think about what we do is in relation to the use of
:07:25. > :07:29.private investigations, although we very rarely use them. If anybody is
:07:29. > :07:36.doing something on our behalf, that they are adhering to the same
:07:36. > :07:41.values we have. Roger, some of us made documentaries -- as someone
:07:41. > :07:51.who has made documentaries for the BBC, do you agree that there is a
:07:51. > :07:58.web of compliance that may limit the baldness of BBC journalism?
:07:58. > :08:05.have had both experiences. I have had tremendous support. Compliance
:08:05. > :08:12.has been terrific. There have been other times when I thought they
:08:12. > :08:15.were a bit on the cautious type -- cautious side. Younger film-makers
:08:15. > :08:19.without much experience need to know what the rules are. That is
:08:19. > :08:26.missing a lot of the time because of the short deadlines. It means
:08:26. > :08:32.that, for example, a lot of press releases just get recycled without
:08:32. > :08:36.anybody thinking where the primary source is. I think the combination
:08:36. > :08:40.of the lack of experience and the pressure of deadlines and falling
:08:40. > :08:46.budgets could harm the future of investigative journalism. There has
:08:46. > :08:51.been a bit of compliance around this table today. Roger, John and
:08:51. > :08:55.David, Thank you. Parents were among the witnesses.
:08:55. > :08:59.The name of Milly Dowler has been back in the news, which prompted
:08:59. > :09:03.one viewer to write to us. Why did the BBC insist on prefacing any
:09:03. > :09:07.mention of Milly Dowler with the words, murdered schoolgirl? We're
:09:07. > :09:13.well aware of the case and I feel it is unnecessary to categorise her
:09:13. > :09:18.in this way. Her memory should be treated with due respect.
:09:18. > :09:22.Mrs Peters had another question. Why is Stephen Lawrence constantly
:09:22. > :09:26.referred to as the black teenager. Surely this enforcers racial
:09:26. > :09:31.differences. Everybody knows he was black and this is considered a
:09:32. > :09:35.racial crime. And another of Yuletide these two
:09:35. > :09:42.together. See if you can identify the following individuals simply by
:09:42. > :09:47.the words used. One, murdered schoolgirl. Two, black teenager.
:09:47. > :09:51.Are they for ever to be known in this way? The trial of two men
:09:51. > :09:56.accused of murdering Stephen Lawrence also elicited another
:09:56. > :10:00.complaint following an item on the news at six at the end of last week.
:10:00. > :10:05.Dwayne Brooks wept as he recalled how the pair were attacked by a
:10:05. > :10:09.gang who had hurled racial and Bruce -- abuse. He gave evidence
:10:09. > :10:14.despite his father dying last night. This report contains racially
:10:14. > :10:20.offensive language. The use of that racially offensive language
:10:20. > :10:27.offended one viewer. Why was it necessary when quoting him to quote
:10:27. > :10:32.the actual word when they would never quote the f-word. I was
:10:32. > :10:36.astounded this was allowed to happen. Finally, Wednesday's
:10:36. > :10:42.Breakfast had a couple of guests in to talk about a forthcoming series.
:10:42. > :10:47.Here it is set in a cafe. It stars Michelle Perry who co-wrote the
:10:47. > :10:56.show. The problem in the opinion of some viewers was revealed at the
:10:56. > :11:01.end of a jolly discussion. In the Cafe tonight at nine o'clock.
:11:01. > :11:05.Gray has pointed out many viewers do not have Sky Television and ask,
:11:05. > :11:09.why advertise on BBC One something that most people are not going to
:11:09. > :11:14.be able to see? If you're going to do an eight-minute feature on such
:11:14. > :11:17.a programme why delay after seven minutes and 50 seconds into tell
:11:17. > :11:21.your viewers that the programme being discussed is on Sky One?