The familiar pre-broadcast warning, “contains scenes of violence that some viewers may find disturbing”, was clearly insufficient for Tuesday’s UK TV documentary about war crimes committed in the final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war. (more…)
British journalist working for Channel 4, Asad Qureshi, was freed after being held hostage by the Taliban in Pakistan for five months. Qureshi was filming a documentary about militancy in Pakistan for Channel 4 in North Warizistan before he was abducted on charges of spying.
Michael Jackson’s former bodyguard, Matthew Fiddes, discontinued his libel case against Channel 4 yesterday (21 June). Fiddes, had been arguing that Cutting Edge documentary The Jackson’s Are Coming, which followed Tito and Katherine Jackson moving to Devon, had been dishonestly edited to portray him exploiting the Jacksons and betraying their trust. However, appearing before Justice Tugendhat, Fiddes’s solicitors withdrew his case, admitting publicly that the programme was “not faked”. The total expenses incurred in the action are estimated to be in excess of £3m. Fiddes himself was not present in court, with his lawyer citing heavy traffic for his absence.
British broadcasters have not changed their plans for covering the Afghan election after the country’s government ordered media organisations not to report on any violence during the polls. The BBC said it would proceed with its plans for covering the presidential election, which takes place today. Sky and ITN, which produces news for ITV and Channel 4, also indicated that they would continue as planned. Read more here