Complaint
A viewer complained that, in a programme segment specifically about asylum seekers, Newsnight introduced a graphic and statistic about â€ÎвԲ¹³Ü³Ù³ó´Ç°ù¾±²õ±ð»å†or “i±ô±ô±ð²µ²¹±ô†migrants in a way that gave a misleading impression that asylum seekers were included in this number. The ECU assessed whether the programme had met the Â鶹Éç’s Guidelines on accuracy.
Outcome
Although references were made to asylum seekers, the ECU considered the discussion, taken as a whole, went beyond that single group. The presenter introduced the item by saying “Immigration has moved up the poll in public concerns with a range of voices adding to the debateâ€. In that context and given the panel discussion which followed considered the much broader issue of the public’s perception of, and concerns about, immigration, the ECU concluded viewers were unlikely to have been materially misled. The programme did present a statistic for the size of the “unauthorised population†in the UK but it was presented as distinct from the number of asylum seekers.
Not Upheld