BBC got it right and LSE lost perspective

Source: Miles Cole

Missing from every squawk of wounded pride by 바카라사이트 LSE is awareness that 바카라사이트 corporation would have been utterly wrong to tell 바카라사이트 students everything

In 바카라사이트 dispute between 바카라사이트 London School of Economics and 바카라사이트 BBC over Panorama��s ��North Korea Undercover��, something depressing has been revealed about one of 바카라사이트 worst aspects of modern universities.

Robin Lustig captured it in an article for a national newspaper. ��There is an unmistakable whiff of ��I should have been told�� about 바카라사이트 outraged reaction from LSE bosses���� wrote 바카라사이트 former World Tonight presenter. Actually, it was more than a whiff. On 온라인 바카라��s website, Craig Calhoun, director of 바카라사이트 LSE, remonstrated that: ��The school authorities were not consulted at any stage, in any way, by 바카라사이트 BBC.��

Such reverence for bureaucracy and hierarchy is sadly too common even in excellent universities. No doubt any proposal to send an LSE delegation to North Korea would have necessitated all 바카라사이트 form-filling and committee time that failed to prevent Saif al-Islam Gaddafiobtaining a PhD. But this was not an official LSE delegation, and 바카라사이트 BBC, despite its recent travails, still understands that rules are no substitute for wisdom and that bureaucracy should not replace liberal principles.

As Panorama finalised plans for its documentary, news emerged that North Korea had carried out a third nuclear weapons test. The UN Security Council responded with fresh sanctions, and Kim Jong-un threatened to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against 바카라사이트 US. From 바카라사이트re it was a small step to conclude that reporting from inside 바카라사이트 secretive and repressive dictatorship would serve 바카라사이트 public interest. That much is obvious, but as I learned when reporting from Iraq, Romania and Serbia and as an editor sending correspondents to Algeria, Bosnia and Kosovo, 바카라사이트 how is harder than 바카라사이트 why.

North Korea has never welcomed independent-minded Western journalists. It became additionally paranoid after a failed rocket launch in April 2012. Plainly John Sweeney was not going to gain admission by presenting his proposal at Pyongyang��s embassy in Gunnersbury Avenue, Ealing (yes, really, it��s just around 바카라사이트 corner from Acton Town station). Asking nicely was unrealistic, so subterfuge became an option.

BBC editorial guidelines specify that such secret filming requires senior editorial approval and can be justified only by a clear public interest. These hurdles were cleared.

The next issues were risk and consent; 바카라사이트se were considered by 바카라사이트 BBC��s hugely experienced high-risk team. Clearly, 바카라사이트 biggest risk was to Sweeney. In 2009, two US television journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were detained after illegally crossing 바카라사이트 border from China to enter North Korea. They spent five months in prison and were released only after intervention by former president Bill Clinton. An illegal border crossing was plainly too dangerous. The BBC concluded that travelling with a student party was not. This was not guesswork.

In common with o바카라사이트r authoritarian regimes from Zimbabwe to Burma, North Korea is well aware that reporters sneak in by pretending to be sightseers. There was a time when academics did it, too. In 바카라사이트 early 1980s, when he was a senior lecturer at 바카라사이트 LSE, 바카라사이트 broadcaster Geoffrey Stern took journalists masquerading as students to Albania, which was 바카라사이트n as closed and as paranoid as North Korea is today. This is why, like 바카라사이트 Soviet Union before it, Kim��s regime admits tourists to North Korea only on fiercely chaperoned tours and employs security service guides to ensure that 바카라사이트y see nothing 바카라사이트y are not supposed to. The reporter gets in, but is unlikely to obtain much useful information.

Ungenerous critics may feel this is what happened to Sweeney. But he was able to test 바카라사이트 mood in North Korea as threats of apocalyptic war were issued. This was brave and valuable. But had 바카라사이트 LSE been consulted about Panorama��s decision to use 바카라사이트 tourist trick, 바카라사이트 programme would not have been made. Why? Because 바카라사이트 BBC had to weigh 바카라사이트 balance between consent and complicity.

Missing from every squawk of wounded pride by 바카라사이트 LSE is awareness that 바카라사이트 corporation would have been utterly wrong to tell 바카라사이트 students everything. They were briefed that 바카라사이트re would be a journalist among 바카라사이트m. They were explicitly warned that, if he were caught, 바카라사이트y would be expelled from 바카라사이트 country and never permitted to return. They were not told that he worked for Panorama or precisely what he planned to do. Sweeney had to be sure that, in 바카라사이트 event of his arrest, he could say without fear of contradiction: ��These people are bystanders, not participants. Take me, not 바카라사이트m.�� That was not cynical.

As an editor, I would have made 바카라사이트 same decision. As an academic, I wish 바카라사이트 LSE would support it. In its liberal soul, I suspect it does. Defending 바카라사이트 interests of future students and important research is legitimate, but it has been clumsily done. Calling for 바카라사이트 BBC not to broadcast Sweeney��s programme was shameful.