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September 10, 2007

Five ‘noddy’ ban is ‘over the top’

By Press Gazette

Five News has been accused of being over the top in tying its ban on editing techniques to the crisis of trust in television.

Peter Horrocks, head of BBC TV News, said that the corporation was already looking at the issues raised last week by Five News editor David Kermode, who banned techniques such as the ‘noddy”, the ‘contrived walking shot’and ‘staged questions’in a bid to restore viewer faith in TV news.

Horrocks said: ‘It was an amusing stunt by Five News, but I think it’s over the top to suggest that there’s a crisis of trust – which in saying so – was potentially damaging to the industry.”

Kermode, the former editor of BBC Breakfast who moved to Five News in June, said: ‘I never said the word ‘crisis’ in regard to TV news, but the industry does have a crisis of trust. If we can be more transparent and eradicate some of the tricks that don’t involve us being as honest as we should be, that’s got to be a good thing.”

Jim Gray, Channel 4 News editor, said: ‘There’s a very good reason for avoiding some of these practices, but getting rid of them and proclaiming that you’re making TV news trustworthy seems a bit ridiculous.”

Newsnight’s Peter Barron said that he would encourage his producers to use noddies sparingly.

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