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Press Releases
Balen report: 91¸£ÀûÉç successful in High Court challenge
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The High Court today (Friday 27 April) rejected Mr Steven Sugar's challenge to the Information Commissioner's decision that the 91¸£ÀûÉç does not have to release the Balen report.
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The 91¸£ÀûÉç has always maintained that the Balen report is held for purposes of journalism and, therefore, outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. The Information Commissioner agreed.
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We believe that programme makers must have the space to be able to freely discuss and reflect on editorial issues in support of independent journalism.
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The 91¸£ÀûÉç also welcomes the High Court's clarification that, in cases where the Information Commissioner agrees with a public service broadcaster that the information sought is outside the scope of the FOI Act, there is no appeal to the Information Tribunal.
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The Balen report was commissioned by the former 91¸£ÀûÉç Director of News, Richard Sambrook, from an experienced journalist. It was always intended as an internal review of programme content, to inform future output. It was never intended for publication.
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The 91¸£ÀûÉç's action in this case had nothing to do with the fact that the Balen report was about the Middle East – the same approach would have been taken whatever area of news output was covered.
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The 91¸£ÀûÉç engages with the public in debating issues of editorial impartiality in other ways, including through subject-based independent impartiality reviews as part of the 91¸£ÀûÉç Trust's role in ensuring the 91¸£ÀûÉç's editorial standards and monitoring its output.
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This continues the programme introduced by the former 91¸£ÀûÉç Board of Governors which included publication in 2006 of the independent impartiality review of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict conducted by Sir Quentin Thomas's panel.
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91¸£ÀûÉç Press Office
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