No comment. Great TV.
SOMETIMES, I have to confess, it’s much better to get a “no comment” than an interview when we’re reporting a story for Channel M.
And the ruder the better.
Such a case happened when thousands of commuters were delayed when a railway line was closed because of a fire, which endangered volatile acetylene cylinders in Salford.
Of course, the railway companies and train stations cannot be blamed for such an incident and most passengers understand that.
After we’d finished interviewing residents who’d been evacuated from their houses, we returned to our offices at Urbis but on the way back spotted a massive queue at Victoria Station.
It was getting quite late and I was surprised that there was still such a lot of disruption, so I went with cameraman Richard Goodaire to grab some interviews with the stranded commuters.
The ones we spoke to were a bit miffed. But they were bearing up.
Then along came British Transport Police and the station manager. We had no right to film there, they said.
Strictly speaking, they were right. We should ask for permission to film on private property. But we had no time to do that and, anyway, we’re here to report the news. Often the story is more important than petty rules.
It’s a civil, not criminal, matter anyway. It’s nothing to do with the police. I’ve mentioned North Korea Syndrome in this column before. The British Transport Police have been infected. Officialdom cannot resist clamping down on free speech.
If the peace had been breached, it wasn’t by us. None of the passengers minded speaking. We were just talking. We just happened to have a camera there, too.
So we went to the pavement outside the station, but they told us that it belonged to the railway station too.
So we moved to the road.
Then, Richard and I, who had every right to be on the public highway, were manhandled by the police to the other side of the road.
We got it all on tape.
I realise now that I should have made a citizen’s arrest on the police officers who were breaching the peace by removing us.
If the station master had been more sensible, he’d have talked on camera and said something along the lines of: “We are doing the best we can under the circumstances. But these circumstances are beyond our control.”
Instead we got great footage of him putting his hand in front of his face and saying “no comment”.
We also got the police manhandling us.
It was far more interesting than a boring-but-sensible quote from an official.
Most importantly of all, of course, it was fantastic television. Job done!