M.I.5 vets B.B.C. staff, says paper

Press, 19 August 1985, Page 10

M.I.5 vets B.B.C. staff, says paper

NZPA-AP London Britain’s M. 1.5 security service secretly controls the hiring and promotion of radio and television staff at the 8.8. C., “The Observer” newspaper alleges. A surveillance unit allegedly based at the 8.8.C.’s London headquarters monitored staff in the current affairs and news departments who were regarded as having Left-wing sympathies, it said. The unit also blacklisted job applicants suspected of having Communist links.

The independent newspaper identified seven journalists, film editors, and producers who were alleged victims of M. 1.5 interference when they applied for jobs at the 8.8. C.

The story was printed yesterday, 11 days after 8.8. C. journalists staged a one-day strike when a documentary on Northern Ireland was banned under Government pressure. The ban, provoking cries of censorship, precipitated the worst internal crisis in the 8.8.C.’s 63-year history, silencing its world-wide radio news service for the

first time. j “The Observer,” quoting several former 8.8. C. executives, including two retired directors-general, said that the unit had a vetting system that “can make or mar the careers and lives of both 8.8. C. radio and television staff.” “The Observer” said that the surveillance unit func-, tioned, unknown to almost all 8.8. C. staff, from room 105 “in an out-of-the-way corridor” at Broadcasting House, the 8.8.C.’s headquarters. The office, which had “special duties — management” labelled on its door, was supervised by a retired British Army officer, Brigadier Ronnie Stonham, who, with four assistants, allegedly were liaisons with M. 1.5. The chairmen of interviewing boards, as well as hiring producers at the 8.8. C. had to submit to Brigadier Stonham’s office the names of all outside applicants being offered jobs. Those news and current affairs staff applying for promotions but regarded as

“media subversives — a category which can include directors, film editors, even actors” were kept under continuous political surveillance, the paper said. The names of job applicants were submitted to M. 1.5 and fed into computers containing the identities of 500,000 subversives. M. 1.5 — the initials stand for Military Intelligence — watches foreign spies working in Britain and spies on Britons regarded as subversive. It frequently has been accused of Right-wing bias, but hard evidence has been lacking.

Under its 1922 charter the 8.8. C. is supposed to be independent of the Government. An administration can influence the corporation’s direction through the people it appoints to the 8.8.C.’s 12-member Board of Governors. The 8.8. C., funded mainly by compulsory annual licence fees paid by tele-vision-set owners, has always, been free to criticise the Government of the day and is frequently accused of bias by both sides of the political divide.