ABSTRACT
It was inevitable that the banking crisis would come under the British parliamentary spotlight. The task of detailed examination fell to the House of Commons Treasury Committee. Its usual remit is to keep a watchful eye on key economic institutions of government – the Treasury and revenue-collecting departments – but also over associated public bodies, including the Bank of England and statutory financial watchdogs. As a select committee it conducts inquiries into key issues, holds public hearings, and makes recommendations to parliament, which may or may not be acted upon. Its credit-crisis terms of reference included ‘to investigate: “the role of the media
in financial stability and whether financial journalists should operate under any form of reporting restrictions during banking crises”.’1 In February 2009 it invited five of journalism’s ‘big hitters’ from print and broadcast media to give oral evidence: the BBC’s Business Editor Robert Peston, whom the Committee described as ‘the key commentator on the banking crisis’; Financial Times Editor Lionel Barber; Daily Mail City Editor Alex Brummer; Jeff Randall, a commentator for the Daily Telegraph and Sky News; and Simon Jenkins, the Guardian columnist and a former editor of The Times. The Committee began work on this aspect of the crisis in late 2008 and published
its report on 15 May 2009. Its chair was the former Labour whip and junior minister John (now Lord) McFall MP. The other Committee members who quizzed the journalists were: Nick Ainger MP, Graham Brady MP, Colin Breed MP, Jim Cousins MP, Michael Fallon MP, Sally Keeble MP, Andrew Love MP, John Mann MP, George Mudie MP, John Thurso MP, Mark Todd MP, and Sir Peter Viggers MP. In what proved to be a unique testimony – nowhere else were journalists
questioned like this – the Committee probed how they handled the crisis, what
difficulties they faced, and whether they shared any of the blame. This edited extract reveals what they told MPs.
