Prime minister Gordon Brown has been caught on tape calling an old lady “bigoted” after speaking to her on a walkabout in Rochdale. The comment was made to an aide after he had returned to his vehicle and was starting to drive away.
It will be small comfort to him that the mic was most likely on Channel 69 the band of frequencies the government are removing from use by the media in 2012. He might also like to consider that prior to budget cuts in newsgathering a sound recordist would have been in the chain between his microphone and the tape and they may well have faded down his mic before he started to drive away….
The whole story and a recording of the offending remark can be found on the BBC news website.
2 Responses
Hehehe… Love the dig on the phase out of using sound-recordists Mary. Here, here!
I also think that C4 have breached Independent Producer Guidelines in airing this. It says in the official book that illegitimate surreptitious recording “…may also include recording telephone conversations without the knowledge of the other party, or deliberately continuing a recording when the other party thinks that it has come to an end.”
I think Gordon would have a case if he was as pedantic and vicious as Alex Salmond!
As a journalist, I would have felt uncomfortable releasing that material and would have just considered it part of the rushes. Every journo's out for a scoop though, eh?
Lyndon.
It also crossed my mind that he should have probably have returned said radio mic to whoever had provided it before he left the location, but I suppose another arrangment may have been in place.
I expect whoever first heard that in the sat truck couldn't believe their luck or the station resist broadcasting it.