Schofield List 'Stunt' - ITV face disciplinary action

**bb1** Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:57 am

http://news.sky.com/story/1011783/itv-paedophile-stunt-disciplinary-action

ITV Paedophile 'Stunt': Disciplinary Action

Media watchdog Ofcom investigates ITV's This Morning and BBC's Newsnight over their coverage of sex abuse claims

ITV's This Morning and BBC's Newsnight are being investigated for their handling of child sex abuse allegations.

Media watchdog Ofcom is examining the Newsnight programme that led to Tory peer Lord McAlpine being wrongly implicated in a paedophile ring.

And it is also looking at This Morning after presenter Phillip Schofield confronted David Cameron with a list of alleged paedophiles live on air.

Ofcom is looking at whether the broadcasters complied with "generally accepted standards" and applied them to "prevent unfair treatment to an individual, and unwarranted infringements of privacy".

The announcement came after ITV said it had taken disciplinary action over the moment Schofield ambushed the Prime Minister last week.

And it follows Lord McAlpine's first interview about the affair, in which he said he felt angry to his soul over his treatment by the BBC.

Its Newsnight programme, broadcast on November 2, plunged the corporation further into crisis just as it was already reeling after the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The show reported allegations from a child abuse victim that he was abused by a senior Conservative figure from the Thatcher era.

Although Lord McAlpine was not named, it sparked fevered speculation that led to the peer being identified online.

Days later, Schofield produced a string of alleged paedophiles he had found on the internet during an interview with Mr Cameron.

The presenter said he had found them by trawling the web for a few minutes and suggested to the Prime Minister that he should speak to those being widely named.

Mr Cameron refused to even look at the list, which the presenter inadvertently showed on camera as he passed it over.

Visibly angry, he expressed concern about exactly that sort of speculation and warned against a "witch hunt".

Downing Street later condemned the confrontation as a "silly stunt" and it sparked around 100 complaints to Ofcom.

The following day Lord McAlpine protested his innocence in a lengthy statement and later, his alleged victim confirmed he had got the wrong man.

ITV said on Thursday that it had investigated the circumstances surrounding the "mistake", for which Schofield and This Morning have apologised.

"The investigation has now concluded and the appropriate disciplinary action has been taken," a statement said.

"We sincerely apologise because the way in which the issue was raised was clearly wrong and should have been handled differently.

"We have taken steps the make sure our editorial processes are always properly followed, which was not the case in this instance, and to ensure such an error will not be made again."