Bashir 'misled' father over TV show

Interviewer Martin Bashir misled the father of a runaway girl into taking part in a programme about her disappearance, TV watchdogs have ruled.

Farooq Yusof agreed to appear in a Tonight With Trevor McDonald programme about his child prodigy daughter Sufiah.

The 15-year-old sparked a police hunt and major media interest when she ran away from Oxford University three years ago.

She was later found safe and well, blaming parental pressure for her decision to run away.

Bashir - who caused controversy with his Michael Jackson interview earlier this year - persuaded Mr Yusof to appear in the programme, claiming he would investigate the father's claims that the authorities were connected with Sufiah's disappearance.

But the Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled that the interviewer "misled" Mr Yusof and that the Tonight team "lulled" him into a false belief about the content of the programme.

In its report, the BSC said: "It was evident... that Mr Bashir misled Mr Yusof into believing that he was investigating the involvement of the authorities in the disappearance of his daughter.

"It (the Commission) takes the view that the programme-makers had lulled Mr Yusof into a contrary belief for their own purposes and had not given him a clear indication as to the nature and purpose of the programme."

Commenting on the ruling, Granada said it stood by the programme and did not agree that Mr Yusof had been misled.

A Granada spokesman said: "While we accept the BSC's adjudications, we don't always agree with them. In this case, we don't agree that an incomplete recording of one of many conversations with Mr Yusof shows that he was misled."

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