Editing World in Action (section)

==''World in Action'' and popular culture==
One of the programme's hallmarks was its willingness to embrace popular culture, at a time when its competitors preferred a more [[highbrow]] approach. One of the earliest editions reported on overspending at the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] in the style of a contemporary gameshow, ''Beat the Clock''. The programme was so controversial, it was banned from being shown on ITV by the then-regulatory body, the Independent Television Authority; instead, 10 minutes of it were shown on the BBC as an act of journalistic solidarity.<ref>Denis Forman, ''Persona Granada'' pp. 216–17.</ref> The gameshow device re-emerged in 1989, when an academic study of the uptake of tax-funded [[social welfare provision|benefits]] by the middle class was transformed into a mock quiz show named ''Spongers'', fronted by a well-known star of game formats, [[Nicholas Parsons]].

Popular music played a significant role in ''WIA's'' history. An early edition, in 1966, carried a [[fly-on-the-wall]] account of daily life aboard one of the then-[[pirate radio]] ships, [[Radio Caroline]], at a time when the British government was determined to preserve the radio monopoly of the BBC by driving the "pirates" off the air. In 1964, the show covered the launch of the second pirate radio ship, Radio Atlanta, by putting a film crew on board the radio ship as she sailed into position.

After the offshore radio ships were outlawed, only Radio Caroline's two ships continued, so ''WIA'' visited one of the ships in September 1967. The British government were furious and banned the camera crew from sailing back into the UK at Felixstowe, just a few miles away, forcing them to sail to Holland and then fly back to the UK.

The long-running intermittent ''Seven Up!'' series of TV films, which in due course spanned decades, was first broadcast from 1964 as part of ''World in Action''. By its intimate technique of filming the everyday lives of children and interviewing them, a different picture of life in Britain was formed.

In 1967, a young researcher named John Birt established his early reputation by persuading the rock star Mick Jagger to appear on ''World in Action''<ref>{{cite news|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1557297,00.html|title=John Birt's MacTaggart Lecture 2005|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=26 August 2005|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> to debate youth culture and his recent drug conviction, with establishment figures, including [[William Rees-Mogg]] of ''[[The Times]]'', who had written a famous editorial defending the singer. Jagger so enjoyed the experience that he invited the Granada team to film [[the Rolling Stones]] at the band's free 1969 concert in [[Hyde Park, London]]. The resulting film, ''[[The Stones in the Park]]'', was one of the iconic concert films of the 1960s. John Birt moved on to edit ''World in Action'', and eventually became the director-general of the BBC.

The rise of [[Thatcherism]] and the misery of mass unemployment had ''WIA'' examining the phenomenon through the eyes of another emerging band, [[UB40]], in ''A Statistic, A Reminder'' (1981), a line taken from one of the band's songs. Six years later, a special edition of the programme was devoted to the Irish rock band [[U2]] and their charismatic front man [[Bono]]. Like the Rolling Stones before them, U2 allowed ''World in Action'' to film one of their classic concerts in 1987 in Ireland. This footage, shot by future Hollywood director Paul Greengrass, was shown only once on ITV because of [[copyright]] restrictions, although it has circulated among fans as a [[bootleg recording|bootleg]].

In 1983, [[Stevie Wonder]], at the height of his popularity, gave the programme a musical exclusive when he agreed to let a ''World in Action'' crew record him performing an unreleased song, written to help [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] politician [[Jesse Jackson]]'s electioneering, for ''The Race Against Reagan''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402505|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022160510/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402505|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2008|title=World in Action: The Race Against Reagan|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Another popular singer, [[Sting (musician)|Sting]], appeared in a more critical ''World in Action'' episode, which questioned the effectiveness of his [[Rainforest Foundation Fund|Rainforest Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sting.com/news/interview.php?uid%3D1583 |access-date=21 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113042041/http://www.sting.com/news/interview.php?uid=1583|title=While Sting's commercial success is undeniable, his artistic and political aspirations remain a popular subject of debate...|archive-date=13 November 2006 }}</ref> In August 1980, the series devoted an edition to the story behind chart rigging – an ongoing practice where record companies were bribing the British chart compilers to put certain artists' singles higher in the charts than they actually were. Singles mentioned on the programme included several UK number-one hits of the previous 12 months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=23632&sectioncode=1|title=Industry veteran John Fruin dies|work=Music Week|date=1 November 2006|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref>

Perhaps the most bruising encounter between ''WIA'' and popular entertainment was the 1995 film ''Black and Blue'', which featured a covert recording of a performance by comedian [[Bernard Manning]] as the star of a charity function organised by the Manchester branch of the [[Police Federation of England and Wales|Police Federation]], which represents rank-and-file officers. Manning's racist and homophobic performance, loudly applauded by those present, caused outrage when ''WIA'' broadcast excerpts, sparking an intense debate about the willingness of British police officers to embrace a [[Diversity (politics)|diverse]] culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/uk2/|title=Racist Violence in the United Kingdom|date=April 1997|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Former ''WIA'' editor Steve Boulton revealed during a 2013 ITV documentary<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/jan/08/itv-investigative-journalism|title=Down memory lane with the much-missed World in Action|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Roy|last=Greenslade|date=8 January 2013|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> about ''World in Action'' that the covert recording had been made by a fellow speaker at the function, former Liverpool [[Militant (Trotskyist group)|Militant]] politician [[Derek Hatton]], himself a previous target of a ''World in Action'' investigation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402597|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025202339/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402597|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2008|title=World in Action: The Trouble With Derek|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Hatton used a miniature cassette recorder concealed in Boulton's own [[Filofax]].