23 April 2003

Martin Bashir faces official criticism

The Broadcasting Standards Commission has partly upheld a complaint about
Martin Bashir's role in an edition of "Tonight with Trevor McDonald".

The item was about Ms.Sufiah Yusof, who at the age of 16, ran away whilst
at Oxford University. In an adjudication published yesterday, the BSC
found that:

"Mr.Bashir misled Mr.Yusof [the girl's father] into believing that he was
investigating the involvement of the authorities in the disappearance of
his daughter. [The BSC] takes the view that the programme-makers had
lulled Mr.Yusof into a contrary belief for their own purposes, and had not
given him a clear indication as to the nature and purpose of the
programme. The Commission therefore finds unfairness to Mr.Yusof in this
respect."

Barrister Jonathan Cohen of Cloisters, instructed by solicitor Clare Kirby
of www.kirbyandco.co.uk represented Mr.Yusof at the BSC hearing in
February, and the adjudication was published online on 22nd April. The
programme was broadcast by Granada on ITV on 8th March 2001.

Mr.Yusof had complained that he had been misled by the programme-makers.
He told the Commission that Mr.Bashir had sympathised with him and his
family and had offered to lend his assistance in trying to find the truth
about Sufiah's disappearance. The Commission found that the
programme-makers' explanation that the purpose of the programme was not
known from the earliest stages was unconvincing. The Commission's finding
that Mr.Bashir had misled Mr.Yusof was based on a recording of discussion
that had taken place between them.

The full adjudication is published by the Commission at
http://www.bsc.org.uk/pdfs/fairadj/yusof.htm. On two other aspects of
Mr.Yusof's complaint - that pre-broadcast assurances had not been adhered
to, and that the item was unbalanced - the BSC found no unfairness to him.