Terror watchdog says it is adopting a “campaigning stance” to legalize assisted suicide
If a news organization decides to air a controversial speech, is it guilty of biased reporting? Lord Carlile, the British government’s terror watchdog, thinks so. The BBC’s broadcasting of Sir Terry Pratchett’s speech in favour of “euthanasia tribunals” is, in Carlile’s mind, evidence of biased journalism and a “campaigning stance” to make assisted suicide legal. In a letter to Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC trust, Carlile has also taken issue with a veteran presenter’s on-air admission that he smothered his partner, who was dying of AIDS. (The presenter has since been questioned by police on suspicion of murder.) For its part, the BBC says it had “no legal obligation” to tell police about the presenter’s confession.