Buerk pleased ‘juices still flowing’ at BBC

VETERAN JOURNALIST Michael Buerk has claimed he has sympathy with the BBC over the Sir Cliff Richard privacy case and is pleased that the “juices are still flowing” at the corporation.

Sir Cliff sued over BBC coverage of a South Yorkshire Police raid on his home in Sunningdale in Berkshire in August 2014, following an allegation of child sexual assault.

Mr Justice Mann this month ruled in Sir Cliff’s favour following a trial in London, concluding the coverage was a very serious privacy invasion and awarded the singer £210,000 damages.

Writing in the ,Mr Buerk, said “scoop” was once a “dirty word” at the BBC and the ideal news story was “serious, significant and reassuringly dull”. He added this is now no longer the case, writing: “I sympathise, though. Journalism is not the priesthood, even at the BBC. It’s a hard, competitive business. The average age of the audience is now in the 60s. “The young are too busy on Twitter talking about and everybody has to shout louder to get heard. “I’m pleased that the juices are still flowing at an organisation that can often look flatulent, bureaucratic and complacent.” Mr Buerk also said there is a “legal no-man’s land” in the 1998 Human Rights Act between the right to privacy and the right to free expression, leading to the law being made and the freedom of the press redefined by single judges.