A victory for press freedom that leaves West Midlands Police in the dock
James Forsyth 5:01pm
The decision by Ofcom to clear Channel 4 completely over the programme Undercover Mosque is welcome news. To recap, the documentary featured various preachers spouting hateful rhetoric about women, gays and the West. Several viewers referred it to the police. West Midlands Police, however, chose not to investigate the preachers but the film itself. Turning themselves into television critics, they charged that the program had been a gross distortion and while no criminal charges for stirring up hatred could be brought they took the unprecedented step of referring it to Ofcom. This was a particularly bizarre decision as all those whose words were broadcast in the film were offered the right of reply while the program makers also went to great lengths to stress that these statements were a perversion of Islam.
The news that Ofcom has cleared Channel 4 entirely leaves West Midlands Police with several questions to answer including who decided to shift the focus of the investigation away from the preachers and onto the program makers and who authorised the complaint to Ofcom? Those in the West Midlands force responsible for this gross waste of police time and this cack-handed attempt to silence independent journalism need to be held to account. While what the preachers said might not have been criminal it was certainly hateful and Channel 4 had an entirely legitimate right to expose them. The reaction of West Midlands Police revealed a mindset that views the exposure of a problem as more of a problem than the problem itself.
In a summer where TV fakery so dominated the news many will have been inclined to think the worse when they heard of the police’s unhappiness. Much credit must go to Channel 4 for standing up for itself and to Paul Goodman, the shadow minister for Community Cohesion, who pursued this issue relentlessly.
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Jon
November 19th, 2007 5:30pm Report this commentQuestion: How could the makers of the programme judge that what was being said was a perversion of Islam? There is no one version of Islam against which comments can judged. What was beig said was an interpretation Islam.
TGF UKIP
November 19th, 2007 6:47pm Report this commentThis episode demonstrates that its not just London but across the country that the whole nature of the police and policing has changed. The politically correct left captured the Home Office ages ago and now they've got a military wing in their own image and likeness.
Pete
November 19th, 2007 7:33pm Report this commentA great victory for freedom and an almighty kick in the balls for the PC Dhimwits at WMP and the CPS. I am so pleased to see this outcome because I saw the original documentary and was so outraged that I lodged an immediate complaint with WMP. I received a letter from them a few months later to advise me that they and CPS could find 'no evidence' in the documentary to suggest that the preachers had commited a crime of incitement to racial hatred or incitement to murder. Those 'officials' were clearly in denial and living in a form of reality bypass to arrive at that conclusion. IDIOTS.
Praguetory
November 19th, 2007 9:20pm Report this comment"At worst, they are shown to be guilty of the worst kind of political correctness, pandering to extremists instead of bringing down the full weight of the law against those inciting hatred." Adrian Goldberg, former BBC journalist and presenter. We didn't need the OFCOM ruling to tell us that. Absolutely craven.
Lee Jakeman
November 19th, 2007 9:20pm Report this commentDoes anyone know if there is any truth in the rumour that Channel 4's next undercover documentary is about West Midlands police?
David Boycott
November 19th, 2007 10:43pm Report this comment"Programme" please.
Bruce
November 20th, 2007 8:50am Report this commentDon't upset the (Labour?) voters.
Graeme Stewart
November 20th, 2007 12:51pm Report this commentWhen will CH4 repea this with ab add-on about the WMP's craven actions?
SpellCheck
November 20th, 2007 12:55pm Report this commentEchoing David Boycott please spell "programme" correctly. In the Spectator of ALL places! It detracts from an excellent piece.
Kirsty
November 23rd, 2007 7:58pm Report this commentMore evidence if any were needed that the police force have been turned into the provisional wing of new labour.
Fiona Halligan
December 7th, 2007 12:14am Report this commentand Kirsty you might apply the same epithet to the Speccie. For instance - a disconcertingly beautiful university educated Somali woman says that it was when she was a most devout Muslim, that she was most full of hate. A fat, unattractive university-educated while English man says that the the contempt and hatred displayed to non-Muslims by Muslims in England is rooted in the loathing for unbelievers, justified by texts in the Koran. Can we look forward to a 6-column report on an interview with the fat white man? - some hope!
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