Complaint
The programme included an interview on allegations of sexual harassment at the broadcaster Al Jazeera with a reporter who had also written about them in a 麻豆官网首页入口 online article.聽 The complainant, who was named in connection with the allegations, complained of an undisclosed conflict of interest (in that the 麻豆官网首页入口 聽reporter had herself been employed by Al Jazeera) conducing to an impression which lacked due impartiality in relation to his case.聽 The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 guidelines on conflicts of interests and its editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The premise of the complaint was that the 麻豆官网首页入口 reporter, as a former employee of Al Jazeera, would have been in a position to observe the complainant鈥檚 behaviour, giving rise to a personal interest in the matter which, if disclosed to viewers, would have enabled them to evaluate her account differently.聽 The ECU noted, however, that the reporter had left Al Jazeera in 2014, which pre-dated the allegations in question. This rendered the premise of the complaint, and any inferences which followed from it, invalid.
Not upheld