In the days before Panorama broadcast on March 31, Lutfur Rahman and his camp looked into their crystal ball and confidently warned the world the programme would be “racist” and “Islamophobic”.
The Mayor himself (a lawyer, remember) went further and took to Twitter to say this:
A few days later he repeated the charge on his blog:
Criminal investigation underway as BBC Panorama whistle-blower reveals racist and Islamophobic programme on Tower Hamlets
You may be aware that BBC Panorama is due to air a programme about Tower Hamlets next week.
I believe the programme is being used for political campaigning and electioneering purposes just weeks before local and Mayoral elections in May.
A dossier passed to us by a BBC whistle-blower has revealed it to be in total breach of the BBC’s editorial guidelines as a public broadcaster.
It has clear racist and Islamophobic overtones targeting the Bangladeshi Muslim community in Tower Hamlets.
The BBC and the undercover production company, Films of Record, have also been referred to the Information Commissioner and there is now a criminal investigation underway.
He was referring, of course, to the so-called “whistleblower” who was hired by the Panorama team to work as a journalist/researcher.
I wrote about her here. She lasted four days before the team waved her goodbye. She took a very important dossier she’d “obtained” from the Panorama team and handed it to the Mayor’s office. She then claimed “whistleblower” status.
She claimed the programme was biased and that she’d witnessed racism among the producers and reporting team.
This was all gleefully exploited by Lutfur and his aides as yet more evidence of an Establishment stitch-up. He even wrote to the BBC’s Director General to demand the programme be pulled, he told us on his blog.
The so-called “whistleblower” herself started a blog and opened an anonymous Twitter account where she detailed her experiences.
Here’s some examples of her Tweets:
(sic)
Well, I don’t think any reasonable person thinks that. Even the Guardian’s Dave Hill, who takes a more measured tone than most on these issues (to the point of glossing over Lutfur’s character sometimes) said, “the Panorama show was pretty measured, sketched in relevant context and acknowledged some of the borough’s achievements. The questions it asked were reasonable. It didn’t recycle that pernicious glory-seeking back catalogue of Tower Hamlets’ Islamist conspiracy that so excites the far Right, and well done for that”.
Trial by Jeory 