Complaint
A viewer complained that the presenter, interviewing Mick Lynch of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, had breached impartiality by stating as a fact that the strike action by his members had failed.Β The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The complaint arose out of this exchange:
Presenter: You’ve had eight strikes so far, and they’ve all failed, because you’re still doing it.
Mick Lynch: Well, they haven’t failed. Because they haven’t implemented their plans to cut thousands of jobs. They haven’t made the changes to Terms and Conditions that we are campaigning against.
Presenter: And nor have you received a pay rise for your members, which is what you want.
The ECU saw no grounds for the view that this breached the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s standards of impartiality.Β It was a matter of fact that the strikes had not yet succeeded in relation to the criterion specified by the presenter, and her line of questioning gave Mr Lynch the opportunity (which he took) to explain why he nevertheless did not regard the strikes as having failed.
Not Upheld