Students given investigative know how from award winning journalist

By Amanda Smith

Meticulous note taking and careful planning are the key elements of successful investigative reporting.

This was the message from Kevin Sutcliffe, Channel 4 Televisionís commissioning editor for current affairs for UCLanís third year journalism students.

Sutcliffe who talked about his job and the pressures it entails commissions a range of programmes from the Mark Thomas Product to the more serious Dispatches strands. They frequently involve reporters going undercover and filming secretly for months on end.

In an upcoming Mark Thomas programme, viewers will shortly see the hard-nosed comedian turned hard news reporter, uncover an arms deal scam. It looks set to make the headlines.

Another recent programme which caused a furore was Dispatches programme Ryanair: Caught Napping. Two under cover reporters revealed a catalogue of horrors at the no-frills airline ranging from poor security checks to exhausted cabin crew and pilots complaining about the number of hours they have to fly in dirty planes. Ryanair, like other companies and institutions exposed in the programme, responded with a legal onslaught.

Injunction

The award-winning journalist who has worked on a string of high quality programmes such as Newsnight and Panorama is no stranger to organisations trying to prevent his programmes going on air.

Heís successfully defended several before a judge by making sure each programme is made because it is in the public interest. Each one is planned down to the last detail. ìEverything to do with the production will be produced in court. You are on trial when making these programmes and at any one point you can find yourself under the microscope with an expensive barrister in front of you.î

He felt that legitimate undercover reporting was not endangered by the 1998 Human Rights Act which effectively guarantees an individualís right to privacy. But only as it stands: ìSecret filming is illegal in some countries and if this happened in the UK this could be a problem,î he said.

Sutcliffe is one of a series of high-profile journalists who have agreed to speak to students about ethics and regulation. Charles Fletcher, Chair of the MediaWise Trust will be speaking next month.

More info
Dispatches Programme
MA International Documentary and Factual Television Production

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Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.