Complaint
This bulletin included a report on the closure of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in which footage of the violent confrontation at Orgreave during the miners’ strike of 1984 was used. A viewer objected to its use, which he believed to be politically motivated and intended as “an underhand dig” against Margaret Thatcher and the police. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station marked the end of coal-generated electricity in the UK descendants, and the reporter set it in the context of coal’s significance to the UK from the industrial revolution to the present day. Footage of the miners’ strike of 1984 was used to show how the decline of coal began in the 1980s with the decision to close a number of deep mines, and the Orgreave footage served to illustrate the fact the decision was opposed by the miners and led to what the reporter described as “a bitter legacy of unemployment and poverty in the area”. The ECU considered this provided clear editorial justification for the footage and, in the absence of any reference in the report to Margaret Thatcher or the police, saw no grounds for suspecting a political motive.
Not upheld