The controversial live BBC coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home has been put forward by the BBC for a major journalism award.
Despite the threat of legal action by Sir Cliff, the reports have been entered into the “scoop of the year” for the Royal Television Society Awards.
BBC camera crews and a reporter were outside the singer's property in Sunningdale, Berkshire, when police officers arrived in August. The search was related to an alleged historical sex offence.
The star, 74, denies the claim and no charges have been brought against him.
The BBC was criticised for the coverage after it was revealed it had been tipped off by police about the raid.
Lawyers for Sir Cliff said the coverage “caused very serious harm” when he had not been interviewed by the police, charged, or arrested.
Sir Cliff has said he will sue the BBC for breach of privacy if no charges arise from the allegations that led to the raid.
The BBC received hundreds of complaints about its coverage and said it would not have prematurely run the story if the police force had said it would jeopardise the police investigation.
The House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee said police should have told the corporation that premature coverage could have damaged the investigation.
The committee's report called South Yorkshire Police "utterly inept" and largely absolved the BBC of criticism, saying it was "well within its rights" to run the story.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz said Sir Cliff had "suffered enormous, irreparable damage to his reputation" as a result and was "owed an apology."
Comments
Sir C has not sued. The Government has not punished the BBC. The BBC have offered their news item for an award. Bravo.
Any Portuguese must check out their understanding of past, present, future - prepositions and conditionals. In the English language.
One of the main 20 languages spoken in the UK.
What is so striking about the Je suis Charlie stuff is that any native born in a country like the UK has only ever known 'Freedom of Speech'.
It is not at all odd. But it comes with responsibility. So none of the UK press re-printed the anti-Islam posters of Charlie Hebdo because it was offensive and did not prove anything new.
But less developed cultures and societies were ridiculously parroting this nonsense about an attack on Freedom of Speech.
Because so many of their older citizens (in Portugal anyone over 40 years) and many here and elsewhere today in the EU still do not have it !!!
Why else does SIC and RTP etc always arrive at the same event at the same time ?