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A Clash of Professional Cultures: the David Kelly affair Dr Biljana Scott University of Oxford

A Clash of Professional Cultures: the David Kelly affair Dr Biljana Scott University of Oxford Second International Conference on Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy Malta - Feb 2004. A Clash of Professional Cultures. The David Kelly Affair Professional Cultures & Diplomacy Language

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A Clash of Professional Cultures: the David Kelly affair Dr Biljana Scott University of Oxford

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  1. A Clash of Professional Cultures:the David Kelly affairDr Biljana Scott University of Oxford Second International Conference on Intercultural Communication and DiplomacyMalta - Feb 2004 Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  2. A Clash of Professional Cultures • The David Kelly Affair • Professional Cultures & Diplomacy • Language • Transgressions • Truth & Trust Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  3. A Clash of Professional Cultures • The David Kelly Affair • Professional Cultures & Diplomacy • Language • Transgressions • Truth & Trust Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  4. Key players Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  5. A Clash of Professional Cultures • The David Kelly Affair • Professional Cultures & Diplomacy • Language • Transgressions • Truth & Trust Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  6. Professional cultures • Distinctive features emerge: • ACROSS cultures Journalists; Scientists; Government; Intelligence… • WITHIN cultures especially in the case of incompetence / transgression Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  7. Professional cultures • Scylla & Charibdes: • BBC:breaking news vs accuracy; independence vs over-protectionism • Government: advocacy vs honesty; protection of civil servant vs skin-saving • WMD experts: Official secrets act vs professional/personal integrity • Intelligence: Reliability of sources vs protection of the country Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  8. Relevance to Diplomacy Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  9. Relevance to Diplomacy Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  10. Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  11. A Clash of Professional Cultures • The David Kelly Affair • Professional Cultures & Diplomacy • Language • Transgressions • Truth & Trust Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  12. Gilligan & Kelly reconstruction ‘A Fight to the Death’ Panorama 21 Jan 2004 GILLIGAN: So, back to the dossier. What happened to it? When we last met you were saying it wasn’t very exciting. KELLY: Yes, that’s right. Until the last week it was just as I told you. It was transformed in the week before publication. GILLIGAN:To make it sexier? KELLY: Yes. To make it sexier. GILLIGAN:What do you mean? Can you give me some examples? Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  13. Gilligan & Kelly reconstruction KELLY: The classic was the 45 minutes. The statement that WMD could be ready in 45 minutes was single source and most things in the dossier were double source.  GILLIGAN: How did this transformation happen? KELLY: Campbell. GILLIGAN: What, you know that Campbell made it up? They made it up? KELLY: No it was real information but it was unreliable and it was in the dossier against our wishes.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  14. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Today Programme, 29 May 2003, 06.07 hrs: “What we’ve been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that actually the government probably knew that the forty-five minute figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in…Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be, to be discovered.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  15. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Today Programme, 29 May 2003, 06.07 hrs: “What we’ve been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that actually the government probably knew that that forty-five minute figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in…Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be, to be discovered.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  16. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Today Programme, 29 May 2003, 06.07 hrs: “What we’ve been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that actually the government probably knew that that forty-five minute figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in…Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be, to be discovered.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  17. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Today Programme, 29 May 2003, 06.07 hrs: “What we’ve been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that actually the government probably knew that that forty-five minute figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in…Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be, to be discovered.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  18. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Today Programme, 29 May 2003, 06.07 hrs: “What we’ve been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that actually the government probably knew that that forty-five minute figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in… Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be, to be discovered.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  19. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Today Programme, 29 May 2003, 06.07 hrs: “What we’ve been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that actually the government probably knew that that forty-five minute figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in… Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be, to be discovered.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  20. Language of journalists: Gilligan • Subsequent rephrasing [my source] “told me the dossier was transformedat the behest of Downing Street.” “It could have been an honest mistake, but what I have been told is that the government knew that claim was questionable, even before the war, even before they wrote it in their dossier.” • Chinese whispers:Downing Street itself had ‘inserted’the 45-minute claim into the dossier Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  21. Language of journalists: Gilligan • False attribution • That Downing St had ‘ordered it to be sexed up’ • That Downing St had inserted intelligence which it “probably knew to be wrong.” • That “the reason [the 45 min claim] hadn’t been in the original draft …was that it only came from one source”. • False Inference • 45 minutes claim wasn’t included because it was fresh intelligence. Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  22. Language of journalists: Context • The ‘two-way’ • unscripted, lacks rigor • invitation to make the news, not report it • risk of ‘collusive auction’: unreliable claims outbid each other“Now our defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan has found evidence that the government’s dossier on Iraq that was produced last September was cobbled together at the last minute with some unconfirmed material that had not been approved by the security services.” John Humphrys Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  23. Language of journalists: Context • The ‘dodgy dossier’ • February 2003 government dossier on Iraq: Iraqi intelligence was:‘aiding opposition groups in hostile regimes’ • ‘supporting terrorist groups in hostile regimes’ Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  24. Language of scientists: Kelly • "I talked to him [Gilligan] about factual stuff. The rest is bullshit." (Kelly to Nick Rufford) • Susan Watts transcript “It was a statement that was made and just got out of all proportion. They were desperate for information. They were pushing hard for information that could be released.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  25. Gilligan & Kelly reconstruction KELLY: The classic was the 45 minutes. The statement that WMD could be ready in 45 minutes was single source and most things in the dossier were double source.  GILLIGAN: How did this transformation happen? KELLY: Campbell. GILLIGAN: What, you know that Campbell made it up? They made it up? KELLY: No it was real information but it was unreliable and it was in the dossier against our wishes.” Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  26. Language of scientists: Kelly Ottaway: ‘There are many people who think that you were the source of that quotation. What is your reaction to that suggestion?’ Kelly: ‘I find it very difficult. It does not sound like my expression of words. It does not sound like a quote from me.’ Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  27. Language of scientists: Kelly • Ottoway: ‘You deny that those are your words?’ Kelly: ‘Yes.’ • Context: • Pressure to falsify BBC’s reporting but NOT to undermine the Iraq Dossier • Scientific community’s unanimous conclusion that there are no WMDs in Iraq. Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  28. Language of politics: the Dossier • “The dossier had to be ‘revelatory’, we needed to show that it was new and informative, and part of a bigger case.” Campbell’s evidence to Hutton • “..much of the evidence is circumstantial so we need to convince our readers that the cumulation of these facts demonstrates an intent on Saddam’s part..” No. 10 Press Officer’s email to Campbell • Recommendations for ‘strengthening’ language 16 point memo from Campbell Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  29. Language of politics: the Dossier • Sins of commission • 45 minute claim (made four times) • Saddam “has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes.” (Blair’s preface) • Expression of certainty: • modals (may/can) • “intelligence has established beyond doubt” • ‘We must ensure that he does not get to use the weapons he has.’ (Blair’s Preface) Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  30. Language of politics: the Dossier Defensive vs offensive stance • Earlier draft: Iraq’s Programme for WMD ‘Saddam is prepared to use chemical and biological weapons if he believes his regime is under threat.’ • Final draft: Iraq’s WMD ‘Saddam is willing to use chemical and biological weapons, including against his own Shia population.’ Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  31. Language of politics: the Dossier • Sins of omission • “The case I make is not that Saddam could launch a nuclear attack on London or another part of the UK (he could not).” • Deleted from Blair’s preface. • “We need to make it clear in launching the document that we do not claim we have evidence that [Saddam] is an imminent threat.” Jonathan Powell, NO. 10 Chief of Staff, 17 Sept 2002 • Not heeded Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  32. Language of politics: the Dossier • Context Tony Blair’s determination to go to war Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  33. A Clash of Professional Cultures • The David Kelly Affair • Professional Cultures & Diplomacy • Language • Transgressions • Truth & Trust Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  34. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  35. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  36. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  37. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  38. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  39. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  40. Transgressions Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  41. A Clash of Professional Cultures • The David Kelly Affair • Professional Cultures & Diplomacy • Language • Transgressions • Truth & Trust Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  42. Truth & trust: falsehoods • Outright lies: Kelly, Gilligan, Hoon • Deception: Government on Iraq WMD capability • Duplicity: Naming strategy • Libel: Campbell against the BBC • Fudge: Definition of WMD in 45 min claim • Decoy: War on BBC deflected from war on Iraq • Omission: Hutton’s judgment (though not inquiry) Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  43. Truth & trust: consequences • Consequences of transgressions & falsehoods • Suicide, Resignations, Loss of public trust • Change of policies • End of Spin?! Finessing? • Truth as a basic value Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  44. Truth & trust: consequences 'So your government's marketing campaign turned out to be a fraud: I would have thought the "west" would be very sceptical of marketing campaigns in general, and government-funded ones especially, but that doesn't seem to be the case.' Salam Pax, aka the Baghdad Blogger(The Guardian, 18 September 2003) Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  45. Truth & trust: basic value • “The allegation that I lied is itself the real lie” (Tony Blair) • “The PM told the truth, the Government told the truth, I told the truth. The BBC … did not” (Alastair Campbell) • “Hutton is the truth” (Senior official) Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  46. Truth & Trust “The issue is not whether Campbell lied; it is whether he and Blair got it wrong and skewed the process of government to forge the dossier that took us to war.” (Henry Porter, The Observer, 1st Feb 2004) Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  47. Truth & Trust “The issue is not whether Campbell lied; it is whether he and Blair got it wrong and skewed the process of government to forgethe dossier that took us to war.” (Henry Porter, The Observer, 1st Feb 2004) Forge: to create vs to counterfeit Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  48. A Clash of Professional Cultures:the David Kelly affairDr Biljana Scott University of Oxford Second International Conference on Intercultural Communication and DiplomacyMalta - Feb 2004 Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  49. Key events • Iraq Dossier September 2002 • War on Iraq March 2003 • Kelly & Gilligan meet May 22 • Today Programme May 29 • Campbell named June 1st • War on BBC June / July • Kelly admits July 1st • Outing strategy July 8 • FAC July 15 • Suicide July 17 • Hutton Inquiry August 1st • Publication January 28 2004 Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

  50. Transgressions • BBC • Andrew Gilligan’s bad records & ‘loose language’ • False accusation against the government • Slack editing • Governors’ failure to investigate Gilligan’s report • Gilligan’s failure to protect his source Dr Bi Scott DiploFoundation ICC-04

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