Undercover BBC journalist uses students as cover in North Korea

[JesseC]

I found this particular item of news quite interesting because of the ethical questions it raises.

In summary, a BBC journalist posed as a student from the London School of Economics (LSE) and joined a field trip to North Korea in order to secretly film and make a documentary. There are conflicting reports as to whether the legitimate students gave full consent or fully appreciated the consequences were the cover to be blown. A few students have complained, as has LSE who asked that the documentary not be aired. The BBC have claimed that such undercover reporting was appropriate to expose the true nature of North Korea given that it is currently centre stage in world affairs.

There is lots of coverage, here is one example:
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/tv-and-radio/panorama-crew-used-lse-north-korea-trip-as-cover-1-2895053

 

[cristo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22196971

Students have now written an open letter to LSE complaining at them complaining to the BBC!

 

[JesseC]

Bizarre. I think I read somewhere that they were 'North Korean Studies' students, so I image this ruins their chance of ever visiting NK again.

I also agree with the opinion that it puts UK academics at greater risk when working in volatile regions of the world if it becomes widely known that they have in the past been used as cover for journalists/"spies".

Also, having watched the documentary, I thought it was a bit crap and not worth all the hype in the first place.