A professional witness done said that a BBC show in the middle of Gerry Adams’ defamation case against the broadcaster “probably” wouldn’t have broke British broadcasting rules. This media dude Christopher Banatvala gave his two cents at the High Court during a civil trial about the former Sinn Féin leader’s lawsuit. Adams claims the Spotlight program and an article from 2016 defamed him by falsely saying he okayed the killing of British agent Denis Donaldson at a cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal, in 2006. The BBC says they didn’t defame Adams, who swears he had nothing to do with the death, which some republican rebels took credit for in 2009.
The expert dude, Banatvala, used to work for Ofcom, the regulator for the broadcasting industry in the UK. He told the court he was in charge of making rules for broadcasters. Banatvala made a report for the BBC’s legal team on the Spotlight program and told the court he thinks it probably didn’t break the rules and wasn’t unfair to Adams. He thought this because there was a lot of public interest in the program, info about Adams was already out there, the BBC believed their source was legit, and they gave Adams a chance to respond to the claim. Banatvala agreed with the BBC’s lawyer that the program was of high public interest since it was about an elected official being accused of some serious stuff during a time of peace talks.
Adams’ side is saying the BBC messed with his rep as a peacemaker. They think the BBC was reckless. The BBC’s lawyers say they were just doing their job and had a good reason to publish the claim. The trial is still going on, with more evidence expected soon.
