The Newsroom

ITN banned from Joanna Yates press conference

(January 2011)

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WH
Whataday Founding member
Astoundingly, ITN have been banned from the Joanna Yates press conference, meaning ITV News & Channel 4 News are not allowed in. ITV West News has been permitted, but this is a ridiculous move. ITV News ran a very critical report regarding the handling of the murder investigation last night.

Will be interesting to see the repercussions of this, particularly on air.

And why have they banned C4 News if it was a separate editorial team? Should they ban all Associated Newspapers too as they have a stake in ITN?
ST
Stuart
Do you have a source for this, which may explain their motives a little better.

The Police seem to be fairly desperate for some leads, hence the pleas for information on Facebook, so it's rather unusual that they would deny themselves the publicity available through ITV News and C4 News without good reason.
TM
Telly Media
The source appears to be a series of Twitter postings by RIchard Gaisford (ITV Daybreak) - although I can't confirm. Perhaps somebody else can?

But I understand this press conference was covered by ITV West in the end, so ITN will access the material from them.
AN
Ant
The news appears to becoming from Daybreak's chief reporter on the Twidder.

http://twitter.com/richardgaisford
CH
chris_rgu
His twitter says that Police were not happy with the content of the report on ITV evening news last night. They criticised the investigation according to Richard Gaisford.
EX
excel99
Seems an questionable move to disallow a news organization that could generate new leads. Surely there are other ways the police can voice their unhappiness at the ITN report such as Ofcom. If anything this just adds to whatever criticisms that were broadcast yesterday
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
Having watched the report now; just who on earth was that "expert" who was wandering around picking apart things he couldn't possibly know?

"If they haven't stopped cars and asked them what they might have seen then they're failing in their job". "Look at the plastic cup lying by the roadside. I would have expected that to be taken away for evidence.."

And so on.

Clearly he wasn't sure what if any evidence had been taken from the area, nor whether they had done random stops on cars.

If I were the investigating officer I might be a little hacked off myself.
ST
stuartfanning
Story in The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/05/itv-news-joanna-yeates-investigation
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
According to that the expert is an ex-murder squad detective, turned gob-on-a-stick for tabloidesque news gatherers.

He could be the ex-Queen of Sheeba, he's still not going to be privy to what information is known in an ongoing investigation.

Ultimately banning them from a news conference doesn't hurt the case. If anything it increases media attention in some kind of pop-will-eat-itself self reporting frenzy.

So all things considered it was probably the right thing to do. Everything that man said was the kind of judgemental speculation you can find in the Star and the Sun.
ST
stuartfanning
Oh dear. So it's right for the Police (a public body) to ban news organizations if they dare to criticize. I suspect this is standard procedure for the Police in totalitarian countries!
TM
Telly Media
According to that the expert is an ex-murder squad detective, turned gob-on-a-stick for tabloidesque news gatherers.

He could be the ex-Queen of Sheeba, he's still not going to be privy to what information is known in an ongoing investigation.

Ultimately banning them from a news conference doesn't hurt the case. If anything it increases media attention in some kind of pop-will-eat-itself self reporting frenzy.

So all things considered it was probably the right thing to do. Everything that man said was the kind of judgemental speculation you can find in the Star and the Sun.


Gavin, I find it really hard to agree with that. Banning a national news organisation from a press conference regarding a high-profile, on-going police investigation, cannot be in anybody’s interests. I didn’t catch last night’s NAT report, so cannot really comment on the merits of the ‘expert’ used, nor the tone of the coverage, but according to the ITN press release quoted in The Guardian, Avon & Somerset Police were contacted for their response before the piece went to air, but apparently declined to do so.

At previous press conferences, DCI Phil Jones has actually thanked the media for their coverage, which has generated a great deal of publicity for the investigation, which is what is needed. And while you’re obviously right to say the publicity generated by the decision to ban ITV News will only help keep the story in the news, I think there’s something quite unsettling about an organisation like ITN being barred from a press briefing of this nature. It sets a dangerous precedent.
Last edited by Telly Media on 5 January 2011 2:14pm - 2 times in total
WH
Whataday Founding member
Agreed, this is outrageous! If the police have a genuine complaint then it should be made to Ofcom (I understand they have already lodged the complaint) and it will be investigated. Banning a large news organisation which supplies two public service broadcasters is unbelievable.

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