NOT MY FAULT; TV reporter defends role in telling of Northern Rock failings

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Feb 5, 2009

BBC business editor Robert Peston denied being to blame for the collapse of Northern Rock.

Mr Peston ran a number of stories on the national news detailing the weakness of the Newcastle-based bank as customers tried to withdraw their money.

But he denied being responsible for the crisis as MPs questioned him yesterday on his role.

He said it was in the public interest to tell customers if their banks were weaker than they thought.

At a Treasury Committee hearing, Mr Peston also denied receiving any "special help" from a particular contact.

He said it was not normal customers who caused the collapse but big city firms refusing to fund the bank.

But he admitted filming queues of people outside branches could have damaged confidence.

He said: "Maybe it was a failing on my part, but of course it was only after the event that I realised the weakness for Northern Rock in having so few branches to the number of their customers."

Speaking about his contacts, he said: "I never felt I was getting special help from any source."

Mr Peston said he had good contacts in the City, Government, Whitehall and with the regulators.

"When I do a story it is normally a process of putting together a jigsaw puzzle," he said, adding he was rarely "handed a story on a plate".

Mr Peston defended the public interest in letting millions know what was going on with their banks and the economy.

CAPTION(S):

QUESTIONS: Robert Peston; IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Northern Rock branch in Northumberland Street