July 29, 2024 - 7:00am

What follows is a tale of two video clips. Last Wednesday, the first of the two emerged on social media, appearing to show an officer from Greater Manchester Police kick a helpless young man in the head.

In a statement, GMP explained that its officers had attempted to arrest a suspect only to find themselves subject to “violent assault”, thus requiring an aggressive response. But as the backlash grew, the force changed its tone, trying to placate the rising public anger at what was shown in the video. It admitted the footage was “truly shocking” and that “people are rightly extremely concerned.”

Various public figures made similar statements of their own. Among them were local Labour MP Paul Waugh, the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

On Friday, the BBC weighed in with a BBC Verify analysis of the video. This was mostly a description of the actions of the police, specifically the kicking, hitting, pushing and use of pepper spray. The reporter, Richard Irvine-Brown, stated the BBC had “not been able to find footage that shows what led up to the incident” — which was unfortunate, because this turned out to be of crucial importance.

The very next day, a second video emerged, providing the missing context for BBC Verify’s blow-by-blow account. What it seems to show is a full-on brawl — in which, as per the GMP’s original statement, police officers suffered multiple attacks. In contrast, the first clip only showed us the outcome of the struggle.

Even with this second clip, it must be stressed that we still don’t know the whole story, which may not exonerate the police of all blame. Nevertheless, it was enough to change the narrative overnight. In a Sunday morning interview, Burnham warned about “a phenomenon of our time”: that is, the perils of social media. “Video will emerge from whichever source”, he observed. “Everyone then becomes an expert on it.” Public order can be threatened by this “rush to judgement”, which “politicians really shouldn’t be part of”. Wise words — it’s just a shame they came too late.

The BBC also has cause to reflect. The release of the second video came after the corporation’s analysis of the first, but just how useful was its examination? Apart from the locations depicted, what exactly was verified? Did the BBC tell us anything about the provenance of the video? Did it question why the clip just happened to start at the point where the officer landed his kick? Did staff ask themselves whether dwelling upon partial footage of a complex and confused situation would help or hinder public understanding?

Perhaps, like everyone else, they should have waited for more of the truth to come out. That at least might have allowed them to ask how it was that a distorted narrative went unchallenged for several days — involving not just random nobodies on the internet but also the mainstream media and prominent politicians. Yet BBC journalists are now in a poor position to do that: after all, they’ve made themselves part of the story.


Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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