The Biter Bit
It was to be a classic piece of reality TV. Police in Manchester, in northern England, set up a sting to catch a credit card thief in action. In conjunction with the local TV station, Granada, a hidden camera was concealed within an Automatic Teller Machine in the suburb of Salford.
Sure enough, the criminal in question came along, used a stolen credit card to withdraw money from someone else’s account, and made off with the loot. The picture was aired on “Crimefile”, a local version of “America’s Most Wanted”, and the public urged to look out for the man who was clearly captured on videotape.
The only problem was… it was the wrong man. It subsequently transpired that the man whose face had been shown on TV was the customer after the criminal had carried out his illegal transaction.
When the innocent man – a 34-year-old worker at a care home – went in to his nearest police station to say there had been a mistake, he was promptly arrested.
To cut a long story short, the man was eventually cleared, and apologies have been flying thick and fast across Manchester. The police have apologised, Granada TV has apologised, and the bank has apologised. The bank went so far as to say he was a ‘bona fide’ customer of theirs. Not any more he isn’t. Perhaps not surprisingly, he’s taken his business elsewhere.
You can read the full story of Allan Dunne’s nightmare at the Guardian’s site, at http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk/broadcast... . He makes a very good point. He told the Guardian “To be shown on television as a criminal is awful. Mud sticks and when I'm out I think people are looking at me because they saw me on the programme.” He’s been diagnosed as suffering from stress as a result.
Getting it Right
Broadcasters (and indeed all media, from newspapers to the internet) have a huge responsibility to get it right. It’s very easy to print, show or broadcast the wrong picture, and in a case such as Mr Dunne’s, there’s little you can say to make it better. The sad fact is that poor Mr Dunne will always feel under suspicion, even when he isn’t. Mr Dunne would probably be within his rights to sue for defamation. You can check the UK’s serpentine Defamation laws at http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1996/199... . Defamation is defined as any statement that would make a right-thinking person think less of the subject. I would guess making everyone think someone was a criminal when they weren’t came under that heading. There are similar laws in most countries.
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