Murdered journalist's family speak out against BBC handling of case

"It's like being at a cocktail party where we're chasing them round the room, and they're running away from us, because they think you're going to mention their ex-wife." This is how Rebecca Peyton, sister of the murdered BBC journalist Kate Peyton, describes the family's interaction with the BBC since her death.

In February 2005, Kate Peyton was shot while on assignment in Somalia for the BBC. The family has fought hard to raise the profile of her case and this week the inquest which investigated the circumstances surrounding her death finally came to an end.

The coroner reached a verdict of unlawful death, but said the BBC's risk assessment to send Peyton to Mogadishu was adequate, 'good and careful'. 

Now the inquest is over, the family wants to speak out, but are wary that Peyton's case may get lost among other media stories.

"Some people have said over Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand that nobody died. Someone did die here," Rebecca Peyton says, quoting her brother to Journalism.co.uk.

"This is more important than people's feelings. This should get more attention from the director-general at the BBC than some fiasco over whether someone says bum on telly. I am depressed."

The family is not scared, she says, to speak out against the BBC and the working culture it believes impacted on their sister's decision to go to a dangerous place, to cover 'colour pieces'.

"We can't be threatened. We're not journalists. We are not afraid of them. They know that we speak our mind because we've got nothing to lose, because neither of us wants a BBC job gathering news," she says.

Neither Rebecca Peyton nor her brother Charles are convinced that appropriate assessment of the situation was made, although they are aware that some journalists' opinions differ.

Rebecca Peyton cites one journalist she spoke to, who did not want to be named: "'He just asked why the hell was Kate there?' when he discovered the stories they were going to cover [features] - and [that] they were not for the six or ten o'clock news or the Today programme - he was stunned."

Both her brother and she wanted to work with the BBC she says, but felt blocked by an 'elephant that was scared of the mouse'.

She is upset by the way the BBC has evaded contact, she adds.

"I don't want to do it in the newspapers. I don't want to do it in my underwear on the street, which I will do to get the press coverage to get these questions answered."

Now she and her brother want to work together with other journalists and journalism organisations to push for a change in the way decisions are made for journalists to report from the frontline.

They both 'really hope to have a good conversation', Rebecca Peyton says, with 'anyone who will talk to us' about employment law issues.

"That's the talk we've really wanted to have with the BBC from the word go," she adds.

There are a number of complaints that the family has with the way the BBC handled the case, although Charles Peyton says: "Within his [the coroner's] constraints, we are happy [with his verdict]."

"We have a stronger view and there's lots of material that couldn't really be used within his remit as evidence, but which we think was important in the basis of why Kate went to Somalia," he adds.

BBC tried to restrict some pre-Mogadishu evidence
"In June 2006 there was the first pre-inquest review where it was agreed by all parties [the BBC, the family and the NUJ] that the scope would be the risk assessment and the question of whether she felt pressure to go," Charles Peyton explains.

The BBC was quite happy with these parameters until the family introduced evidence from Aidan White, the founder of the International News Safety Institute, he continues.

"They [the BBC] started writing legal letters to the coroner, saying that he had no jurisdiction - that the cause of death was [...] restricted to events that occurred after she landed in Mogadishu," Peyton claims.

In the event, this argument was lost, and the coroner did investigate pre-departure evidence.

The BBC threatened to sue the Press Association (PA) before the inquest, he claims, 'on the basis of a very mild interview we did speaking about what the inquest would look into'.

BBC own reportage limited
Both Peyton and his sister say the BBC's own coverage of the inquest was inadequate.

BBC broadcast reporters did not approach the corporation's management for comment as they left the courtroom, the Peytons claim. 

While Rebecca Peyton acknowledges that BBC management and news sectors are very different parts of the organisation, she says that during the inquest 'newsgathering was in the dock' and it was difficult for BBC reporters to respond when their 'bosses were eyeballing them in the courtroom'.

Time to move forward
Peyton thinks the BBC has been overly sensitive: she was outraged to discover that lawyers representing the corporation had hinted to the Peyton's own barrister that the pair should not defame anyone post-inquest; if they do they risk legal action.

"We have not defamed a soul, in nearly four years. We have indeed spoken to people with whom we have issues, but we have spoken to them directly," she says.

She has been 'itching' to speak out for months, Peyton says: "We have respected it [the inquest procedure] - keeping these things inside has nearly made our eyes pop."

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, the pair are keen to stress that their complaint is with the BBC's management of the case, and the working culture that has developed, rather than specific individuals.

Both now want to put the inquest behind them and look to the future to work on the foundation in Kate Peyton's name and campaign for new working arrangements to prevent a similar situation occurring again.

Journalism.co.uk asked the BBC about the main points raised in this interview. The BBC declined to comment on some issues but:

In regards to the request made to the coroner to restrict the evidence examined, a spokesperson said: 

• "It is common practice to make submissions when you need to establish the parameters of any legal process. The original written witness statements covered some areas of evidence that were not directly relevant to Kate's tragic death. The Coroner accepted that the evidence was too wide in some respects but not others. We accepted that decision. The coroner requested witness statements from various individuals within the BBC and these were provided."

 In regards to the suggestion that none of the BBC reporters approached BBC management after the inquest a spokesperson said: 

• "The BBC's director of news gave an interview to the BBC which featured on the news channel, BBC News website, and the BBC News at Ten and of course a statement was issued at the time. It was made clear to press at the inquest that this was the way the BBC was handling it."

The official statement released after the close of the inquest can be read here. The Peyton family statement can be read on our Editors' Blog.

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