Privacy and Injunctions - Evidence - Parliament

Terence Ewing—Written evidence
77. Mr. Moseley is correct in his contentions concerning the devastating damage that can
be caused to an ordinary person by prior publication, perpetrated in a reckless manner
by an unprofessional editor.
78. It is clear therefore from recent cases that the press is totally out of control, treat the
Press Complaints Commission and any libel awards awarded against them by the
courts with total contempt and consider themselves above the law.
79. Therefore, clear sanctions are now called for, and they have shown that they cannot
be trusted to put their own house in order, and have no one to blame but themselves
if Parliament now takes action.
80. A recent example of an organization being contacted before transmission of a
television programe was the BBC in connection with its recent Panorama programe
concerning Ryan Air, entered into considerable correspondence with that company
prior to transmission.
81. This was obviously in the interests of professional journalism, as Ryan Air were given a
full opportunity of commenting on and correcting any misunderstandings prior to the
broadcast.
82. As can be seen from the enclosed attached correspondence downloaded from the
Ryan Air web site at the time, there was considerable dispute concerning the facts of
the case, which Ryan Air made plain both in the letters from Mr. O’Leary and his
company representatives.
83. It is fair to say that the programe when eventually broadcast was a damp squib, as the
original claims that were to have been adverse to Ryan Air were omitted for the most
part, and the only concrete criticism leveled so far as I could see was concerning items
on their web site. Ryan Air to their credit made a number of minor adjustments to
their site prior to transmission.
84. This was due to Ryan Air being able to place the BBC on notice beforehand that some
of their more contentious claims and allegations were hotly denied.
85. Clearly in those circumstances, the BBC wouldn’t have had any defence of Qualified
Privilege or even a “Reynolds” style defence, if they had then proceeded to broadcast
some of the more controversial original allegations in the form that they had originally
intended.
86. Mr. O’Leary declined to be interviewed on the programe unless he was given an
assurance that it would be transmitted in its entirety in unedited form, something that
the BBC may have unreasonably refused to do.
87. However, when Mr. O’Leary did appear on the programe when he emerged from a
company meeting, he made his views very plain to BBC reporter Mr. Vivian White, and
in my view came out with flying colours, making the BBC look stupid and biased
against him and Ryan Air.
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