Everyone In Brixton Thinks Exactly The Same, Says Faked Channel 4 News Show
WHAT is Livity? It’s a portmanteau of Living and City. And:
Livity is a youth engagement agency.
The banner above asks Livity users: “How do you unite young people against a common enemy.”
The Guardian says of Livity:
“We’re trying to save the world through marketing,” says Sam Conniff, the co-founder of Livity, and he is not joking.
Is it as horrible as it sounds?
On the Livity site, we also learn:
We work with young people every day to co-create campaigns, content and communities.
Our clients – including Google, Public Health England, Channel 4, NSPCC, Big Lottery Fund and Barclays – get uniquely deep youth insights and a precious pool of young talent, energy and ideas. Our young people get training, equipment, support and opportunities to build brighter futures.
You might have seen their work on Channel 4. The channel posted a report on a “partnership day of action’: between Lambeth Council, Lambeth Police and Trident Central Gangs Unit.
Channel 4 (Livity) went to the streets and asked locals what they thought of the police.
“Attitudes towards police on streets of Brixton,” with the strap line, “Our reporter, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, spent the day in Brixton, in south London, to test out what residents there felt about the police.”
Brixton Blog notes:
Channel Four reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan spoke to people on the streets of Brixton to ask them what they think of the police, during a day of action and engagement called Brixton Unite. The operation, which resulted in several arrests, co-incided with the emergence of evidence that police spied on the Lawrence family during the investigation into their son Stephen’s death.
As the Indy notes, of the five interviewees, “only one did not have connections with marketing company Livity”.
One of the Livity employees, producer Matthew Peltier, described how he had been stopped and searched by police over 15 years.
Youth development manager Naomi Brown said young people felt “negative” towards officers whilst two others – Beulah Lambert and Henry Houdini – spoke of a “disconnect” and lack of trust felt by people.
Mr Jarrett-Bryan concluded: “I found little hope of change here but a community still fighting for parity.”
The fifth interviewee was Lee Jasper, former chief race advisor to London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
Urban75 poster urbanspaceman (‘US’) posted on the site’s forums his view of the show. He copied a letter he’d sent to Jackie Long, Social Affairs Editor and presenter:
Dear Jackie Long
I’ve lived in central Brixton for 30 years, and so I watched Jordan Jarrett-Bryan’s report last night with interest. But as he developed his case, I became puzzled by the seeming uniformity of his vox pop respondents’ views. Because, the thing is, it’s pretty much impossible to find anyone in Brixton who shares an opinion with anyone else.
So I looked into the backgrounds of the interviewees.
Naomi Brown was credited on screen as Youth Development Mentor at advertising agency Livity
Matthew Peltier. No affiliation was disclosed in the report. LinkedIn reveals that he is Senior Producer at Livity
Beulah Lambert. No affiliation was disclosed in the report. Linkedin reveals that she is Account Manager at Livity
Henry Houdini. No affiliation was disclosed in the report. Linkedin reveals that he is Junior Assistant Producer at Livity
Jarrett-Brown signs off: “I found little hope of change here…”
But he does not reflect the views of the Brixton at large – rather the party line of staff at advertising agency Livity.
By the way, Jarrett-Brown used to work at Livity and later, when he went freelance, he rented office space there.
So what we really saw last night was actually a choreographed performance by a clique of Jarrett-Brown’s friends and colleagues.
There was one independent interviewee; inevitably it was Lee Jasper.
This is terribly shoddy journalism.
What do you think ?
Regards
US
Channel 4 has removed the broadcast video from the web:
“We accept we should have been clear that they were from one place of work but we were not aware that was the case with all of them. We should have made further inquiries and we regret this oversight. The video has now been removed from the Channel 4 News website.”
Let’s end with a question Livity asks:
We called Livity to find out if they produced the video in good faith. We’ll let you know what they say.
Posted: 10th, March 2014 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
