British journalism scandals
- British journalism scandals
There have been a number of scandals in the history of British journalism.
Notable scandals
James Forlong, Sky News (2003)
In April 2003 the Sky News Network carried a report from James Forlong aboard the British nuclear submarine HMS "Splendid" purportedly showing a live firing of a cruise missile, at sea in the Persian Gulf, during the Iraq war. The report included scenes of the crew members giving instructions related to the launch of the missile and included a sequence in which a crew member pressed a large red button marked with the word "FIRE" and accompanied by a sequence of a missile breaking the surface of the water and launching into the air. The report was a fabrication, with the crew acting along for the benefit of the cameras. The "Sky News" team did not accompany the submarine when it left port and the scenes were actually recorded whilst the vessel was docked. The shot of the missile breaking the surface has been obtained from stock footage.
The faked report was revealed because a BBC film crew did accompany the vessel to sea. The BBC crew filmed a real cruise missile launch for the BBC TV series Fighting the War. The BBC footage showed how, with modern computerised launching systems, a missile is not launched by pressing a red button but is actually launched with a left mouse click. The BBC passed the information onto "The Guardian" newspaper who broke the story on July 18, 2003.
James Forlong was suspended from "Sky News" pending an investigation. [cite news | title = The backfiring missile | work = The Guardian | date = July 21, 2003 | url = http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1002105,00.html | accessdate=2008-10-11] . In October 2003, he was found dead by his wife after committing suicide by hanging. In December, "Sky News" was fined £50,000 by the Independent Television Commission for breaching accuracy regulations. [cite news | title = Sky fined £50,000 over war report | work = BBC News | date = December 16, 2003 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3324281.stm | accessdate = 2008-10-11]
References
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
United States journalism scandals — lists journalistic incidents in the United States which have been widely reported as journalistic scandals, or which were alleged to be scandalous by journalistic standards of the day.Notable reports of United States journalism scandalsCoverage… … Wikipedia
Journalism ethics and standards — comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by professional journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional code of… … Wikipedia
Sports journalism — is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department , because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the serious topics… … Wikipedia
List of scandals with "-gate" suffix — The suffix gate derives from the Watergate scandal of the United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon. The word Watergate is derived from the Watergate Complex, where the scandal started. On … Wikipedia
News propaganda — Journalism News · Writing style Ethics · Objectivity Values · … Wikipedia
The Sun — Infobox Newspaper name = The Sun caption = The Sun in January 2005, featuring Prince Harry in nazi costume. type = Daily newspaper available Monday to Saturday except Christmas Day. format = Tabloid foundation = 1964 owners = News International… … Wikipedia
Kelvin MacKenzie — Infobox actor imagesize = 150px name = Kelvin The Devil MacKenzie birthname = Kelvin Calder MacKenzie birthdate = Birth date and age|df=yes|1946|10|22 birthplace = London, United Kingdom deathdate = deathplace = restingplace =… … Wikipedia
Hutton Inquiry — The Hutton Inquiry was a British judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointed by the United Kingdom Labour government with the terms of reference ...urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr… … Wikipedia
Scandal (novel) — Scandal, or Priscilla s Kindness is a satirical novel by A. N. Wilson first published in 1983 about a British politician s rise and fall, the latter caused by a relationship with a prostitute. Although the title is the same and there are… … Wikipedia
Confidential (magazine) — A cover of Confidential from 1954, featuring Lana Turner, Winston Churchill, Joe Louis, and Christine Jorgensen. Confidential was a periodical published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953, and then bi monthly until 1978. It was founded… … Wikipedia
