The BBC and the public's right to know - a case study

Robert Henderson

The British media claims it is committed to informing the public. The
reality is that it frequently colludes with politicians to suppress
stories. A classic example is the attempted suicide of Blair's daughter
Kathryn in April 2004. Every single newspaper and broadcaster
(including the BBC) has refused to use the story.

The BBC as a public service broadcaster has a special obligation to put
anything of political interest before the public. Consequently, I have
twice confronted its chairman Michael Grade with the failure of the BBC
to run the story.

The first occasion was at the Viewers and Listeners Spring Conference
in April 2005. Grade claimed not to know the story, but refused to
discuss the matter. Later I wrote to him asking him to justify his
failure to make the story public. Grade did not reply but I received a
letter from the BBC's Head of communications Tina Stowell which ran
"The question you raised at the VLV Seminar on 25 April relating
to the Prime Minister's daughter is not one which the BBC Chairman
will respond to in public or via correspondence."

The second occasion was at the Governors "AGM" at Television Centre on
19 July 2005. After the programme, The Governors rashly mingled with
the audience. I managed to corner Grade for about five minutes and ask
him in front of plenty of witnesses why he had censored the story of
the Blair daughter's attempted suicide, especially after I had raised
the matter with him in April 2005 at the Voice of the Viewer and
Listeners Spring Conference. He tried to make a joke of it, but before
he escaped I asked him the following question: Do you believe the story
is true? He refused to answer. 'nuff said.

At the same meeting I lobbied four other Governors: Deborah Bull,
Merfyn Jones, Fabian Monds, Ranjit Sondhi and Angela Sarkis. Without
exception they all seemed painfully startled by the news. I got a
promise from each to look into the matter if I sent them the full
details. I wrote to them and the other Governors on 20 July 2005. None
have replied. Instead, I again received a letter from Tina Stowell
(22 July 2005). This ran "Thank you for your letter to the Board of
Governors. The BBC's position remains the same as in my previous
letter." I then submitted a formal complaint through the governors'
website of 28 July 2005. No reply has been received after a month.

During the BBC R5 morning phone in programme of 3 May hosted by
Victoria Derbyshire), I managed to bring up the attempted suicide of
Kathryn Blair. I was cut off almost immediately.

After the R5 episode I wrote to Feedback, the programme which
supposedly deals with listeners concerns with the BBC, asking them to
investigate the censorship. They have failed to do so.

The BBC (and rest of the media) does not have any general trouble with
reporting teenage attempted suicides, for example, Rebecca Ling, the
girl who survived a suicide pact in 2004 received very full coverage.