Response from C4 News re Martin's 7 Oct 08 appearance

gakochan

Dear Mr Howard,

Thank you for contacting Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries regarding CHANNEL 4
NEWS.

We apologise for the late response.

Further to your complaint we have a statement from CHANNEL 4 NEWS directly
regarding this.

Earlier this month Channel Four News carried a live interview with Martin
Lewis - the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com - at the height of the
Icelandic bank crisis. The interview, conducted by Jon Snow, created a good
deal of comment from our viewers, many of whom felt that our interview was
either unfair or unduly harsh on Mr Lewis. It raises some interesting
questions about the Icelandic story and our subsequent treatment of it.

Iceland's banking sector is a very familiar subject to Channel Four News.
Way back in March of this year we led the programme with a report that
clearly highlighted the possible perils of investing in high yielding
Icelandic accounts which included an interview with the FSA on the subject.
Iceland's extraordinary banking revolution was very much a child of the
internet age - it allowed a small nation to build a very large virtual
banking empire at breathtaking speed. This was mirrored by a rise of the
internet as a source of investment information - the rise of the "best buy
table" - which played its part in the rush of British depositors into
Iceland's Landsbanki and Kaupthing accounts.

As Martin Lewis made plain in his interview - his website and others like
it- offer only a limited snapshot of financial institutions - essentially
who offers the best savings rates and product terms. There is sound advice
about not putting all your eggs in one basket and pointers towards other
sources of information, but what Mr Martin honestly explains is that he is
not qualified to address the complex issue of solvency and stability. Two
issues at the heart of the banking crisis. By focusing primarily on the rate
of return not enough was being done to consider the risks.

The obvious questions about Iceland's suitability as a centre of
international finance and the ability of such a tiny country to underwrite
billions of pounds worth of saver's money were a critical feature of this
story and had been around for some time. I think as a programme we were
right to ask tough questions about the role of best buy tables in the
Icelandic banking crisis and whether sites like MoneSavingExpert.com feel in
any way responsible for" tipping" banks that subsequently failed. I felt Mr
Lewis gave a very good account of himself in the studio interview and
clearly explained his position on the story. But I also think the interview
was timely, relevant and fair.

I was dismayed however by some of the comments we received about our other
studio guest, Mr Stephen Burton, a lawyer from Hampshire who had one hundred
and fifty thousands pounds in an Icelandic account. Mr Burton who suffers
from cerebal palsy, gave us a strong and cogent account of his story and his
sense of injustice. However it was an interview that demanded something of
the viewer. The programme took several calls suggesting that we should not
put people like Mr Burton on air because of their condition. I found those
views depressing.

Please Note:

Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent
those of Independent Television News Limited unless specifically stated.
This email and any files attached are confidential and intended solely for
the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate all
feedback from our viewers; complimentary or otherwise.

Regards,

Penny Watson
Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries

For information about Channel 4 have a look at our FAQ section at
www.channel4.com/help

lauzjp

well done Mr Howard, I should've emailed channel 4, but was probably a bit too wound up about it to be coherent and non-sweary at the time!