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The Media Show: Amanda Knox trial and sports rights

Amanda Knox trial and sports rights

05/10/2011

BBC Radio 4 - The Media Show, Amanda Knox trial and sports rights

Reporting on Knox and Sollecito's trial, sports broadcast rights, BBC savings.

With Steve Hewlett. Changes to sports rights, the BBC's Delivering Quality First proposals, and does the reporting of Amanda Knox's trial reveal problems with Italian journalism?

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were freed from prison in Perugia on Monday, having had their convictions for murdering British student Meredith Kercher overturned. But, as the verdict was being read out, parts of the British media wrongly reported that Knox and Sollecito had lost their appeal. Steve Hewlett asks how the mistake came about and why the misinformation spread so rapidly. 

The coverage of the trial has been described as a media circus, driven by the press and public's fascination with Amanda Knox. American journalist Nina Burleigh has argued that there is a serious problem with Italian reporters who failed to properly investigate the case or ask the right questions. Nina Burleigh and Marco Colombo ask whether there is really a problem with Italian investigative journalism.

A British landlady won her fight against the Premier League and Sky this week after the European Court ruled that she should be able to show Premiership football matches in her pub without buying a Sky box. To discuss what the ruling means for Sky and other broadcasters, Steve is joined by Ashling O'Connor, sports correspondent for The Times, and sports rights lawyer Morris Bentata. 

The BBC is due to announce its Delivery Quality First proposals tomorrow, a new strategy designed to make savings for licence fee payers. Media commentator Maggie Brown explains which areas are likely to see cuts and what this may mean for BBC audiences. 

The producer is Simon Tillotson.

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