ITV breached rules on Blair interview

ITV has been rapped by regulator Ofcom over broadcasting its interpretation of an interview given by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Ofcom said ITV News reported as fact its interpretation of the interview when the conversation was ambiguous, and ruled that ITV was in breach of the requirement for reporting news with due accuracy.

The report, broadcast in March last year, said that the Prime Minister had said his belief in God played an important part in deciding to go to war.

Based on an interview with Michael Parkinson, it said Mr Blair prayed over the decision before embarking on military action.

The complainants said Mr Blair's comments had been wrongly interpreted.

In the interview, veteran interviewer Parkinson asked: "So you would pray to God whenever you make a decision like that?".

Blair replied: "Well I... I don't want to go into... this side of this but it's ... Yeah I, you, you...but you of course, it's... you, you struggle with your own conscience about it because people's lives are affected."

ITV maintained that the answer was sufficiently clear for them to conclude that faith in God had played a part in the decision to go to war

Ofcom, which received 10 complaints about the bulletins, said: "Taken together, the only statements that are clear are that Mr Blair struggled with his own conscience about the decision to go to war and that he believes history and God will make the judgment on whether he was right."