The arrival of a generation of young producers “marinated in social media” led to a false claim about Euan Blair being broadcast on Have I Got News For You, the production chief behind the show has said.
The first in a new series of the BBC show featured an incorrect claim that the company run by the son of the former prime minister Tony Blair had been given the contract to run the government’s new digital ID system.
It fuelled online accusations that it explained his father’s strong support for ID cards.
Jimmy Mulville, the founder of the programme’s producers Hat Trick Productions, said he wanted to highlight the dangers of “digital native” producers taking widely circulated claims from X, formerly Twitter, without questioning their veracity.
“What was interesting is that because we now have generations of younger producers who are coming into the business – and they are digital natives – they’re marinated in social media,” he said on Insiders: The TV Podcast.
“Apparently, the story was put on by a freelance journalist, I won’t mention her name, who put [it] on her Twitter feed. And no one questioned it.
“It’s a low-level mistake but nevertheless, it is indicative. It was good to spot it, because what you wouldn’t want to do is just to make some kind of egregious claim about somebody and it is defamatory.”
The BBC’s broadcast of the claim comes amid increasing concern over online misinformation reaching the mainstream media, with media workers often users of platforms such as X, owned by the billionaire Elon Musk. The post about Blair, which is still on the site, has been viewed almost 3m times.
Blair’s company, Multiverse, offers apprenticeship programmes and tech-related training, but has said it is not involved in the proposed digital ID project and does not have the expertise to oversee it.
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Mulville said the production team’s rules had been tightened in relation to using information from social media. “When you make a mistake in a show, you have to own up to it,” he said. “And last week, we made a mistake.”
The BBC has apologised for airing the false claim. The episode was taken down from iPlayer last weekend and updated, with the incorrect claim removed. Victoria Coren Mitchell, the host of the show who read out the claim, has also made clear on social media that it is not true.
