| Panorama | |
|---|---|
| Format | Current affairs, documentary |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30-60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | 11 November 1953 – present |
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world.[1] Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby and Jeremy Vine. In 2011, it still retains a peak time transmission slot on BBC One, but without a regular presenter.
Panorama was launched on 11 November 1953 on the BBC Television Service, it focuses on investigative journalism. Daily Mail reporter Pat Murphy was the original presenter,[2] who only lasted one episode after accidentally broadcasting a technical mishap. Max Robertson then took over for a year. The programme originally had a magazine format and included arts features. Richard Dimbleby took over in 1955 and presented it during the late 1950s and 1960s.
His son, David Dimbleby, went on to present the programme from 11 November 1974 – the 21st anniversary of the show. Other past presenters include: Sir Robin Day, Sir Ludovic Kennedy and Sir Charles Wheeler. The programme is currently presented by Jeremy Vine. On 13 December 2010 it was announced that the programme will be relaunched in the new year with no regular presenter.
Panorama set an example for the German magazine show of the same name,[3] which is produced by NDR, and broadcast on Das Erste. Panorama started there in 1961 and is one of the leading political magazine shows.
The theme music is an adaptation of Francis Lai's "Aujourd'hui C'est Toi" ("Today It's You"), which has run since 1971. Prior to this, from 1968, Rachmaninov's Symphony No.1 in D Minor, 4th Movement, was used, and before that the theme was Robert Farnon's "Openings & Endings".
In 1955, Panorama filmed Christopher Mayhew taking mescaline under medical supervision.[4][5] The resulting programme was never broadcast, though the footage and transcripts were later released.[6]
Panorama broadcast a famous hoax film about the harvesting of the spaghetti crop on April Fool's Day, 1957.[7]
Arguably the most famous Panorama programme of all was the 1995 interview of Diana, Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir, which occurred after her separation, when she openly discussed the rumours surrounding her personal life. The programme's filming and planning was subject to extreme secrecy, with Richard James Ayre, the Controller of Editorial Policy, authorising a series of clandestine meetings between Bashir and Diana.[8]
One of the most controversial broadcasts of recent time was the "Who bombed Omagh?" programme, which named those suspected of involvement in the Omagh bombing. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist unit SO13 said that the Real IRA attack on the BBC Television Centre could have been a revenge attack for the broadcast.[9][10]
In 1987, the Panorama programme, Scientology: The Road to Total Freedom?, for the first time exposed on broadcast television the secret upper-level doctrines of the Church of Scientology, and featured an animated retelling of the Xenu incident in Scientology doctrine.[11]
On 14 May 2007, an episode titled Scientology and Me was broadcast. The journalist John Sweeney presented the edition, showing how the Church reacted to his journalistic investigations, including its reaction when he put to members that some people describe the organisation as a "cult". At one point during an interview, the presenter lost his temper with a member of the Church of Scientology; an edited portion of this incident was subsequently released by the Church on YouTube and DVD in an attempt to publicize it and raise controversy. However, the 2007 Scientology episode was Panorama's highest audience since it moved to Monday evening.[12][13]
A follow-up programme, The Secrets of Scientology, was broadcast on 28 September 2010, presenting proof that the Church had harassed Sweeney during the making of the earlier documentary, with the specific intention of making him react in the way he eventually did, in addition to numerous interviews with former high-ranking members of the organisation who had been subject to harassment.[14]
Since 2002, Panorama has made four programmes about the anti-depressant Seroxat: "The Secrets of Seroxat" (2002);[15] "Seroxat: Emails from the Edge" (2003);[16] "Taken on Trust" (2004)[17] and "Secrets of the Drug Trials" (2007).[18]
"The Secrets of Seroxat" elicited a record response from the public as 65,000 people called the BBC helpline and 1,300 people emailed Panorama directly.[19]
The leading mental health charity Mind collaborated with Panorama in a survey of those who emailed the programme. Anonymous findings from the 239 responses were sent to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).[19]
The second Panorama programme on Seroxat, "Emails from the Edge", included a report of the survey to which the 239 people responded. It showed widespread experiences of suicidal feelings and other severe reactions, very bad withdrawal symptoms and lack of warnings from doctors. Following the broadcast users/survivors and Mind protested outside the offices of the MHRA.[19]
On 29 January 2007, the fourth documentary in the series about the drug Seroxat was broadcast. It focused on three GlaxoSmithKline paediatric clinical trials on depressed children and adolescents. Data from the trials show that Seroxat could not be proven to work for teenagers. Not only that, one clinical trial indicated that they were six times more likely to become suicidal after taking it. In the programme, Panorama revealed the secret trail of internal emails which show how GlaxoSmithKline manipulated the results of the trials for its own commercial gain. Access to the documents has been gained as GlaxoSmithKline fights a fraud trial in the US.
Some of these previously secret Glaxo documents featured in the programme were leaked into the internet following the programme's broadcast.[20]
On 19 September 2006 Panorama showed a documentary called "Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets", which alleged payments in English football contrary to the rules of the Football Association, involving:
The Football Association has asked for any evidence as it tries to rid such action from football.
On 1 October 2006 Panorama did an episode on Crimen Sollicitationis, a church "instruction" approved by Pope John XXIII in 1962, which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests. Critics claim the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.
Panorama investigated claims that as much as $23 billion (£11.75 billion) may have been lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq.[22]
The United States Department of Justice has imposed gagging orders that prevent discussion of the allegations.[23] US and other media have reported little on this issue.[24]
Shown on 6 July 2009, the programme investigated the increasing repression of peaceful protest by the police in the UK, in particular of environmental protesters. The episode was shown in the context of the aftermath of the G20 protests in London on 1 and 2 April 2009 which led to the death of Ian Tomlinson and many protesters being assaulted. Police also used the controversial “kettling” technique to detain people for hours.
As controversy over Israel's blockade of Gaza still rages, Jane Corbin asks what really happened on the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli commandos seized the ship. (R)
Abbas Al Lawati, a reporter for Gulf News, who was on the Mavi Marmara during the Gaza flotilla raid, criticized Panorama's reporting of the raid in the documentary, "Death in the Med", stating that it was either a result of "weak journalism" or "deep bias".[25] Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, who had also participated in the Free Gaza flotilla, has also accused the programme of a "lack of truth" and "bias" in a letter to the BBC, describing its effects on the families of those who died as a "grave injustice".[26]
"The BBC Trust has ruled that a Panorama documentary about the Israeli boarding of the Mavi Marmara was "accurate and impartial" overall..."[27]
On 13 September 2010 Panorama aired an in depth investigation into Pope Benedict XVI's involvement in the cover up of the Catholic sex abuse cases. The program was broadcast three days before the first visit of the Pope to the United Kingdom in almost three decades.[28]
On 29 November 2010, three days before voting for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Panorama aired an in depth investigation into bribes by senior FIFA officials.[29]
On 31 May 2011, Panorama aired a special investigation into the horrific physical and psychological abuse suffered by severely disabled and vulnerable patients at Winterbourne View private hospital in Bristol. The initial reaction of the documentary was shock and horror and was one of the most watched programmes that evening. It also set the news agenda for the following day and for the papers.
The fallout from the programme led many to question why such institutional care was still being provided in England for people who should be living more independent lives in the community. In June 2011 the Association of Supported Living[30] issued a strong press statement, which was followed up in writing to every MP in the country, calling for community based supported living services to replace institutional services for people with learning disabilities.
In December 2011 it was revealed that then BBC Director General Sir Ian Trethowan had met with the heads of MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service about an episode of Panorama dealing with the security services.[31] He showed a video recording of the original programme to Bernard Sheldon, then legal adviser to MI5.[31] The latter suggested cuts to the programme and Trethowan asked the head of BBC News to reduce the programme to half its' length.[31]
The scheduling of Panorama has, since the 1980s, often been a subject of media debate and controversy, due to the duties of the BBC to provide both on the one hand entertaining programming that appeals to a mass audience, and on the other serious journalism that might have a narrower audience. In February 1985, with the programme being watched by an average audience of just 3.5 million viewers, Controller of BBC One Michael Grade moved the programme from its traditional prime time 8.10 pm slot on Monday evenings back to 9.30 pm, following the Nine O'Clock News.[32] Despite many protests about this move in the media,[32] Panorama remained in this slot until 1997, although two of Grade's successors, Alan Yentob and Michael Jackson, were known to be unhappy about running 70 continuous minutes of news from 9 pm.[32] In May 1997 the Acting Controller of BBC One, Mark Thompson, did move Panorama back half an hour to 10 pm, to make way for the sitcom Birds of a Feather, which opened the BBC to criticism that it was side-lining serious content in favour of lighter programming.[32]
In 2000, the programme was moved again, with the 10 pm timeslot no longer available due to the moving of the BBC News from 9 pm to the later slot. Panorama was moved to Sunday nights, following the news, usually shown at around 10.15 pm – labelled by some critics as a "graveyard slot".[33] The number of editions made per year was also cut back, which attracted press criticism for the BBC in general and its Director-General Greg Dyke in particular, as Dyke was the driving force behind the schedule changes.[34][35] The incoming Controller of BBC One, Lorraine Heggessey, defended the move, claiming that the programme's audience would have "dwindled" had it remained on Monday nights.[33]
In January 2007 Heggessey's successor, Peter Fincham, moved Panorama back from Sunday nights to a prime time Monday evening slot at 8.30 pm, although it was now shorter than it had previously been, running to just half an hour. This decision was at least partly in response to a demand from the Board of Governors of the BBC for the channel to show more current affairs programming in prime time.[36]