Exact wording of ruling on Shaft Jersey

This is the exact text of the ruling on Frank Walker. Items in bold are mine.

Newsnight, BBC2, 25 February 2008 - Complaint

The ECU received complaints from two viewers in Jersey about an item on the investigation into the Haut de la Garenne children's home.  The item included footage of an exchange between Senator Walker, the Chief Minister of Jersey, and Senator Syvret, one of his leading critics.  The viewers complained that this footage had been edited in a way which was unfair to Senator Walker, and that further unfairness resulted from his response to Senator Syvret being misquoted by Jeremy Paxman in a live interview with him.  One of the viewers complained that the exchange with Senator Syvret had been filmed without Senator Walker's knowledge.

Ruling

The exchange, as edited and broadcast was as follows:
Senator Syvret
Frank, we're talking about dead children.
Senator Walker
Yes, Stewart. Exactly. You shouldn't be politicising it. You're trying to shaft Jersey
internationally.

In the view of the ECU, the editing had not materially altered the meaning of the exchange, and did not result in unfairness to Senator Walker.  However, because of a mishearing, Jeremy Paxman paraphrased him as having said "We're trying to promote the international image of Jersey", then quoted him as having said "We're trying to show off Jersey internationally", despite his denials.  Although, by way of clarification, Senator Walker's actual words were given later in the programme, this did not sufficiently offset an impression of undue preoccupation with Jersey's image which his words did not warrant.  As to the filming of the exchange, the ECU found that sufficient steps had been taken to make both Senators aware of the likelihood that filming would still be going on at the point when the exchange took place.

Partly upheld

Further action
Editors in BBC News have been asked to stress to teams the importance of making sure the audience is clear about cases where a presenter's mishearing affects the subsequent discussion, in particular by ensuring that enough has been done as soon as is practical to prevent the audience being left with a misleading impression.