Al Jazeera report an example of bad journalism: Editors’ Guild

The Editors' Guild of Bangladesh, an association formed to protect editorial freedom and promote responsible journalism in the country, said Al Jazeera's documentary - "All the Prime Minister's Men" -- was politically motivated and violated journalistic ethics in many ways.

The entire documentary was about a family but the title was "All the Prime Minister's Men", it said in a statement issued on Sunday.

The term "All the Prime Minister's Men" was used without any evidence to mention allegations that had earlier been brought forth by different media, which is bad journalism, the letter says.  

The documentary that is politically motivated and biased can never be an example of investigative journalism, the Editors' Guild said.

"The documentary is based on some informal talks. No acceptable evidence was presented to corroborate that. Millions of euros, according to the documentary, were invested in Hungary and France, but no source of the fund was shown in that. There were only verbal statements about money transactions to help get government projects. Al Jazeera could not show any official statements of the European Union or countries concerned in support of those allegations," the statement reads.

The original email threatening Sami with life was not shown in the documentary, and that calls into question the credibility of the reported threat.

The Editors' Guild also questioned the acceptability of the report as it did not have statements from the governments of the countries – Hungary, France and Malaysia- where people were shown to have travelled with forged documents, passports and laundered money.

The footage shown in the documentary was captured with hidden camera, which, according to the Editors' Guild, should not be done by an ethical media outlet. Without statement of those accused of wrongdoing, the documentary goes against journalistic norms, it said.

The Editors' Guild thinks it is unacceptable that Al Jazeera could not get their statements during the two-year-long investigation.

Purchasing spyware is a government policy but the documentary showed no evidence of it being purchased from an Israeli company, it said, adding that the documentary cunningly showed a blurred image of supposedly Israeli officials, saying they did not want to be named.

The statement, signed by Editors' Guild President Mozammel Haque Babu, further said, "One of the interviewees was punished by a Bangladeshi court. The Editors' Guild welcomes any report that is made based on evidence. But a motivated report hampers democracy and journalism."