A Brixton resident has complained to Channel 4 over what he feels is the “shoddy journalism” displayed in a video piece about yesterday’s ‘Brixton Unite‘ action.

Although the piece purported to represent the views of ordinary Brixton residents, it would appear that almost all of those interviewed were connected with the advertising agency, Livity.

The Channel 4 news feature, screened last night, was entitled, “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.

Urban75 poster urbanspaceman (‘US’) felt something “seemed a bit off” about the piece, and took a closer look at who was involved.

Here’s what he posted on the forums:

It turns out that the reporter, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, merely interviewed a gaggle of his friends/colleagues, and passed this off as a reflection of the view of Brixton at large. It’s difficult enough to find any accurate and non-superficial reporting on Brixton, and this sort of nonsense doesn’t help. I sent the email below to Jackie Long, Social Affairs Editor and presenter. I wonder what she will say. 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

About Livity

US also took a look at the people behind Livity and sent us this:

Livity itself is a strange beast. http://www.theguardian.com/best-awards/best-awards-2013-winners http://livity.co.uk/ Livity is actually a completely profit-driven advertising agency masquerading as some sort of community/pro bono group. Check this from the Livity “about” page: “Livity is a youth engagement agency. 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.” Such an artfully chosen phrase: Youth Engagement Agency. It makes it sound like Livity is down with the kidz, engaging them with society and whatnot. After all, who could want the Youth to be Disengaged ? Well, yes, “engaging” them with Google and Barclays. A better word might be “sell”. And interestingly enough, Channel 4 itself is a Livity customer, pimping its gangsta-wank series TopBoy: http://creativebrief.com/agency/work/21355/2653/channel-4-by-livity?search=1

We’ll keep you updated if Channel 4 reply to US’s comments – meanwhile, here’s the original Channel 4 video piece below (or try the Channel 4 site if its not working).

You can also follow updates on the urban75 chat forum.