Post by Teddy Bear on Oct 19, 2013 19:33:13 GMT
Alasdair Glennie explains what's wrong with this in his Mail article:
Chris Huhne the convict was paid a fee to appear on the BBC
By Alasdair Glennie
Disgraced former minister Chris Huhne was paid to appear on the BBC, apparently in breach of the corporation’s own editorial guidelines, it has emerged.
The former energy secretary, who still has to wear an electronic tag after being released early from his sentence, is thought to have received around £150 plus travel expenses to conduct an eight-minute interview last week.
He was ostensibly invited on to the Sunday Politics programme to discuss energy policy, but spent several minutes talking about his sentence. The BBC’s editorial guidelines clearly forbid paying ex-convicts for talking about their crimes.
MPs criticised the corporation for giving Huhne a public platform to rehabilitate himself by plugging his post-prison ventures only five months after he was released from jail.
Huhne spent the first two minutes of the interview talking about the reasons for his sentence.
He served 62 days of an eight-month term for perverting the course of justice after he lied about speeding points which his ex-wife Vicky Pryce took for him on her licence a decade ago.
He told presenter Andrew Neil he was prosecuted and jailed merely to provide a ‘deterrent effect’ to others. ‘It wasn’t a question of changing my character. It was actually about stopping people like you, Andrew, from doing the same thing and swapping speeding points... That was why the prosecution was brought. I had not offended for ten years on this,’ he said.
BBC guidelines state producers should not pay criminals or former criminals ‘for interviews or other contributions relating to their crimes’, adding: ‘Payment of an actual fee will only be approved for a contribution of remarkable importance with a clear public interest which could not be obtained without payment.’
BBC sources insisted Huhne’s interview did not break the rules because he was invited on the programme to discuss Labour’s proposal to cap energy prices rather than talk about his crime.
If Huhne had served his full sentence, he would not have been released until November 13.
Until then, he will have to wear an electronic tag and obey a night-time curfew at his home in London. Miss Price, who was also sentenced to eight months, has since published a book about her experience in Holloway prison, called Prisonomics.
On Monday she gave her first broadcast interviews since being released, including BBC Breakfast and Radio 4’s Today programme.
While discussing prison policy, she was allowed to plug the book, the royalties from which she is giving to a charity.
A BBC spokesman declined to say whether she was paid for the interviews.
Huhne has been appointed European chairman of energy company Zilkha Biomass Energy and has started writing a weekly column for The Guardian. He mentioned the column several times on Sunday Politics, saying it gave him a ‘great platform’, although he denied having a ‘strategy of rehabilitation’.
Towards the end of the interview, Mr Neil said he wished they had ‘more time to talk’ and promised to have Huhne back on the show.
Tory MP Conor Burns said: ‘If the interview was exclusively about energy policy, why was he asked about his rehabilitation?
‘There is no shortage of energy experts or even former energy secretaries.
‘Clearly the BBC felt his crime was itself newsworthy, and that’s why they wanted him on so much.
‘I find it extraordinary the BBC would use licence fee payer’s money to pay someone who was so recently convicted and who clearly hopes to re-join the political conversation.’
Tory MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee criticised the BBC for paying Huhne when serving politicians are not paid for interviews about politics.
He said: ‘I don’t see why he should be rewarded by the BBC financially for getting himself into the position where he was put in prison to talk about things he would have talked about as a minister. It seems perverse.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We are happy that Chris Huhne’s appearance was in accordance with BBC guidelines.’
- Disgraced former minister appeared on the Sunday Politics programme
- BBC guidelines forbids paying convicts for interviews relating to their crimes
- Huhne served 62 days of an eight-month prison term
By Alasdair Glennie
Disgraced former minister Chris Huhne was paid to appear on the BBC, apparently in breach of the corporation’s own editorial guidelines, it has emerged.
The former energy secretary, who still has to wear an electronic tag after being released early from his sentence, is thought to have received around £150 plus travel expenses to conduct an eight-minute interview last week.
He was ostensibly invited on to the Sunday Politics programme to discuss energy policy, but spent several minutes talking about his sentence. The BBC’s editorial guidelines clearly forbid paying ex-convicts for talking about their crimes.
MPs criticised the corporation for giving Huhne a public platform to rehabilitate himself by plugging his post-prison ventures only five months after he was released from jail.
Huhne spent the first two minutes of the interview talking about the reasons for his sentence.
He served 62 days of an eight-month term for perverting the course of justice after he lied about speeding points which his ex-wife Vicky Pryce took for him on her licence a decade ago.
He told presenter Andrew Neil he was prosecuted and jailed merely to provide a ‘deterrent effect’ to others. ‘It wasn’t a question of changing my character. It was actually about stopping people like you, Andrew, from doing the same thing and swapping speeding points... That was why the prosecution was brought. I had not offended for ten years on this,’ he said.
BBC guidelines state producers should not pay criminals or former criminals ‘for interviews or other contributions relating to their crimes’, adding: ‘Payment of an actual fee will only be approved for a contribution of remarkable importance with a clear public interest which could not be obtained without payment.’
BBC sources insisted Huhne’s interview did not break the rules because he was invited on the programme to discuss Labour’s proposal to cap energy prices rather than talk about his crime.
If Huhne had served his full sentence, he would not have been released until November 13.
Until then, he will have to wear an electronic tag and obey a night-time curfew at his home in London. Miss Price, who was also sentenced to eight months, has since published a book about her experience in Holloway prison, called Prisonomics.
On Monday she gave her first broadcast interviews since being released, including BBC Breakfast and Radio 4’s Today programme.
While discussing prison policy, she was allowed to plug the book, the royalties from which she is giving to a charity.
A BBC spokesman declined to say whether she was paid for the interviews.
Huhne has been appointed European chairman of energy company Zilkha Biomass Energy and has started writing a weekly column for The Guardian. He mentioned the column several times on Sunday Politics, saying it gave him a ‘great platform’, although he denied having a ‘strategy of rehabilitation’.
Towards the end of the interview, Mr Neil said he wished they had ‘more time to talk’ and promised to have Huhne back on the show.
Tory MP Conor Burns said: ‘If the interview was exclusively about energy policy, why was he asked about his rehabilitation?
‘There is no shortage of energy experts or even former energy secretaries.
‘Clearly the BBC felt his crime was itself newsworthy, and that’s why they wanted him on so much.
‘I find it extraordinary the BBC would use licence fee payer’s money to pay someone who was so recently convicted and who clearly hopes to re-join the political conversation.’
Tory MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee criticised the BBC for paying Huhne when serving politicians are not paid for interviews about politics.
He said: ‘I don’t see why he should be rewarded by the BBC financially for getting himself into the position where he was put in prison to talk about things he would have talked about as a minister. It seems perverse.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We are happy that Chris Huhne’s appearance was in accordance with BBC guidelines.’
