Exclusive
West Ham’s co chairman David Gold hascalled on the BBC to apologise to the club after their documentary “How the Hammers stuck Gold” was found to be ‘biased’ and failed to meet the Corporation’s editorial standards.
ClaretandHugh revealed the result of the internal inquiry here yesterday after an internal BBC inquiry found bias had taken place in relation to particular points raised by the LLDC.
The production team has been reminded of the need to ensure that contributors’ responses to criticisms are properly reflected in programmes.
And this evening when we asked DG whether there was a case for an apology to West Ham he said: “There’s absolutely no question about that. I felt aggrieved at the time and I have no reason to change my mind now.”
He added: “Have they been reprimanded enough? I’m not sure about that. The feeling remains that there was unbalanced reporting involved.
“However despite every best effort by the BBC and the lobbys against us, the club has carried on and concluded a deal which sees the club heading into a bright future.”
West Ham United statement
West Ham United welcome the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit upholding the LLDC’s complaint against the biased reporting in the ‘Hammers Struck Gold’ programme, aired on 6 August 2015.
It was clear from the outset of the project, when the production team first approached West Ham to take part in filming, that their line of questioning was heavily biased and on that basis the Club chose not to take part.
The Club did however, in good faith, issue a statement to the programme makers outlining the Club’s position on the important issues raised. Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, only a small section of that statement was reflected in the programme.
It is now clear that the documentary should never have aired in the format that it did and we therefore hope that its producers will now do the right thing and issue an apology to West Ham United for the biased reporting contained within it.