Judgment Approved by the court for handing down.
Ali & Aslam v Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd
rationally be justified by reference to the public interest served by publication. But
that where there is a rational view by which public interest can justify publication,
particularly giving full weight to editorial knowledge and discretion, then the court
should be slow to interfere.
84.
In our view it is clear that the issues underlying this programme were indeed of real
public interest and extended well beyond the specifics of High Court process.
Moreover, this part of this programme has to be seen in the context of the whole.
Perhaps the strongest point of criticism from the judge on this aspect of the case was
that there was no clear exposition of the difference made by the transfer from the
County Court to the High Court, so that the writ was executed extremely rapidly and
the Claimants had effectively no notice of the arrival of the HCEAs. Logically it
would appear to be a necessary corollary of the judgment that such specific points
about the legal system should be incorporated in each package of the series of
programme concerned.
85.
Much of the evidence of Mr Brinkworth was directed to the series overall, and it is
clear that the programmes in the series were different: it could hardly be otherwise.
As Mr Brinkworth said in paragraph 13 of his statement:
“…Choosing which stories are considered is a careful process.
In some instances there may be, for example, an issue of mental
health which may make a story unsuitable. There may be
others where there is no process to observe as the writ may
have already been settled or set aside. Each story that is
considered always tries to bring to light an aspect of debt, with
context, and with the different circumstances of the debtor and
creditor being taken into account. As stated above, we always
try to put relevant statistics before each story to enable the
viewer to see how the story that follows fits into a wider
national perspective. The episode in question here, for
example, with the various and sometimes heated interactions
between Mr Ali, his wife and the landlord illustrated to me that
this was a good example of how relations between a landlord
and a tenant had broken down; how the landlord had lost faith
and trust in the tenant because of his failure to pay the rent;
how it had gone through extensive back and forth in the county
courts’ and that both Mr Ali as the tenant as well as the
landlord had the opportunity to state their case about the facts
of the matter.”
86.
We accept the factual conclusions of the judge concerning Mr Bohill in their entirety.
We also accept his strictures as to how the evidence from and of Mr Bohill, and its
impact upon the editorial process, should have been put to Mr Brinkworth. It seems
clear that Mr Bohill had an eye to the impact on the “good television” quality of the
film and may have encouraged Omar Ahmed accordingly. We also accept the judge’s
view as to the absence of true consent on the part of the Claimants. It must have been
obvious to them that “the other side of the story” was emerging on the filmed footage
and that unless something was said to give the Claimants’ account, that would simply
not be available to be broadcast. Hence the participation by the First Claimant in the
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