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BBC Panorama

BBC admits ‘serious failing’ in Panorama North Korea expose

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By John Glenday, Reporter

March 18, 2014 | 1 min read

The BBC has been forced to apologise over a ‘serious failing’ in a Panorama North Korea expose which put a group of London School of Economics students at risk.

Presenter John Sweeney had posed as a PhD student on an 8-day trip to the hermit state without informing the group that he would be secretly filming from their midst, potentially putting them in danger from the North Korean authorities.

The trip had been organised by Sweeney’s wife, Tomiko Newson, who was working for the programme alongside her role as in the university’s Student International Relations Society.

Students on the overseas foray were unaware that Sweeney, Newson and an undercover cameraman planned to flee the group if they thought they were detected, leaving the students at the mercy of the North Korean government.

Panorama: North Korea Undercover was broadcast in April 2013.

BBC Panorama

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