LSE anger at BBC undercover DPRK report

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By CCTV correspondent Olly Barratt

The London school of Economics’ student union has voiced its anger, after BBC reporters used a student trip to the DPRK to shoot an undercover documentary. LSE students were told a BBC journalist would be on the tour, only to later find there were actually three reporters. The BBC has refused to pull the Panorama program.

The London school of economics has a global reputation. But thanks to the BBC some here feel it is receiving the international spotlight for the wrong reasons. Several students on the DPRK trip report they were initially told one print journalist would be traveling with them.

Alex Peters-Day, LSE Students’ Union, said, "It was only once they actually got to Beijing they found out there were three of them and they were all going to be pretending to be LSE students. I think a lot of them feel quite manipulated because of that and feel information was deliberately withheld from them so the BBC could make a decision on their behalf. Which isn’t really on."

But the BBC’s lead reporter, whose wife was also on the trip, insists students were told enough, but not too much.

John Sweeney, BBC Panorama Reporter, said, "We were anxious that if I was arrested, if that happened, then the less the students knew, the better. Now my wife had been there before - there was no trouble. There was no trouble on this trip. All of the students are safe and well. The majority of the students are supportive of the documentary."

It is notoriously difficult for journalists to get images from inside the DPRK. But at the LSE the fear is other countries and institutions will now think twice about working with the university on research and foreign visits. The LSE has strong ties to China it does not want go jeopardize.

Alex Peters-Day, LSE Students’ Union, said, "LSE has a great relationship with Chinese institutions and we have a lot of Chinese students here and I think the fact that the BBC placed all of that at risk is one of the worst things about this story."

The BBC claims public interest justified the way it got into DPRK. But for the LSE it’s a question of credibility and trust.

There’s a sense of relief here at LSE that there were no major problems on this trip and that all the students are home safe.

There is also a sense of anger though at what the BBC has done and what impact that might have on future trips.