British Journalism Scandals

There have been a number of scandals in British journalism during the 21st century, both in printed publications and in broadcast media. The publicised scandals include faking information, and suppressing information, as well as gaining illegal access to private data. As in many other countries, some British media have been accused of trying to inflate the prices of some shares or commodities.

Generally, the people and organisations involved have not been severely penalised by the British government, with only a few people serving short prison sentences. The British government did initiate the Leveson Inquiry into the conduct of the British media, but subsequent governments did not implemented all the recommendations of the long running public inquiry.

With the explosion of digital media on the Internet, the monitoring and policing of media has become more complex.

Financial scams

City Slickers, ''Daily Mirror'' (1999-2000)

Two financial journalists working on the City Slickers section of the ''Daily Mirror'' were convicted in 2005 for buying, tipping and then selling shares between 1999 and 2000, breaching the Financial Services Act. Investigations revealed James Hipwell and Anil Bhoyrul made at least £41,000 from those wrongdoings. The investigation also revealed that Piers Morgan, editor of the newspaper, actually encouraged this behaviour. James Hipwell and Anil Bhoyrul were fired from the ''Daily Mirror'' in 2000.

International conflicts

James Forlong, Sky News (2003)

In April 2003, the Sky News TV network carried a report from James Forlong aboard the British nuclear submarine HMS ''Splendid'', purportedly showing the live firing of a cruise missile at sea in the Persian Gulf during the Iraq War. The report included scenes of the crew members giving instructions related to the launch of the missile, and included a sequence in which a crew member pressed a large red button marked with the word "FIRE", accompanied by a sequence of a missile breaking the surface of the water and launching into the air. The report was a fabrication, with the crew acting along for the benefit of the cameras. The Sky News team did not accompany the submarine when it left port, and the scenes were actually recorded whilst the vessel was docked. The shot of the missile breaking the surface had been obtained from stock footage.

The faked report was revealed because a BBC
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