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PCC ruling upholds journalists right to use subterfuge by rejecting Bell Pottinger complaint against The Independent

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By Gillian West, Social media manager

July 26, 2012 | 3 min read

A ruling by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has upheld the right of investigative journalists to use subterfuge when attempting to uncover unsavoury relations between politicians and lobbyists.

The regulator has rejected a complaint brought against The Independent by lobbying and communications firm Bell Pottinger, following an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism which uncovered the company’s willingness to represent countries with appalling human rights records.

The Bureau had begun this investigation following comments by Prime Minister David Cameron, when he was leader of the Opposition that the lobbying industry was “the next big scandal waiting to happen.”

A year after the Coalition came into power, and with no reforms made to this sector, the Bureau carried out a series of interviews with confidential sources within the industry. Based on what it was told, the Bureau decided there was a public interest matter at hand and engaged in subterfuge to investigate 10 lobbying companies that represented countries with dubious human rights records.

Bell Pottinger refuted the exposé claiming it was unjustified as it would have responded openly to journalist’s inquiries however, the PCC has ruled the investigation “raised issues of significant public interest.”

Last year The Independent revealed how Bell Pottinger had told journalists posing as representatives of the Uzbek cotton industry it could use “dark arts” to help its clients and boasted of relationships with senior Government figures including David Cameron and William Hague. Bell Pottinger also spoke of how it could manipulate online portals Google and Wikipedia to minimise negative information surrounding clients.

In rejecting Bell Pottinger’s claim that the investigation was “embarrassing” the PCC commented: “The material published…was more than just embarrassing: it provided significant insight into the means employed by lobbyists to assist such clients, including the network of political contacts that would assist this process.

“The means employed by the journalists had been appropriately tailored to explore the allegations made by confidential sources about the firm’s activities, which raised issues of significant public interest. This was not a ‘fishing expedition’.”

Editor of the Bureau of Investigation, Iain Overton, said the ruling was “a great result,” adding: “It impresses that the work of the Bureau, and investigative journalism, still has an important public role to perform and that stories such as this one can’t be smothered by the velveteen hands of PR spin.

“The PCC’s final ruling exonerates our journalism and reinforces that undercover filming, when done in the public interest, has an important role to play in exposing wrongdoings.”

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