Julian Pettifer

Julian Pettifer (born 21 July 1935 in Malmesbury, England) is a British television journalist. He is President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (appointed in 1994 and again in 2004) and Vice President of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. He was voted Bafta 'Reporter of the Year' for his coverage of the war in Vietnam in 1968. In 1993 he presented a propaganda film for Rio Tinto Zinc. He now presents BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents.

Career

He started work in television during the early days of ITV, as one of the original Southern Television announcers in 1958, but later moved to the BBC as a globe-trotting reporter for programmes such as Tonight, 24 Hours and Panorama. He also wrote and presented a number of documentaries for both BBC and ITV, including Diamonds in the Sky, on the subject of international air travel; Automania, a history of the motor car, and Missionaries.

A growing interest in the environment led to him writing and presenting programmes about the environment and wildlife including Naturewatch for Central Television, Nature, and The Living Isles for the BBC. He is President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Vice President of the Wildlife Trust. He continued to report on current affairs, contributing reports for BBC Two's Assignment and Correspondent programmes, and a highly praised film for Channel 4 that re-examined the reporting of the Vietnam war. He presented BBC Radio 4's Asiafile and now presents their Crossing Continents.

Corporate propaganda

The blurb for the Green Gurus series asked:

"Environmentalism is often likened to religion. To its followers it has its indisputable truths, its holy books and its saints and prophets. In this series of 3 programmes Julian Pettifer looks at three very different gurus of the Green movement and assesses their influence both on activists and on society as a whole.”

Pettifer's links to corporate propaganda were not mentioned in the programme. In 1994 he made a film for Rio Tinto Zinc extolling the virtues of their corporate responsibility. Mining Magazine reported:

RTZ has also recently launched a video An Environmental Report on RTZ made by independent broadcaster Julian Pettifer in which he examines the impacts of various mining operations carried out by companies in the RTZ Group in several continents. Given a free hand, he set out apprehensive at what he would find but Mr. Pettifer quite clearly puts the message across that he was, instead, very favourably impressed by the steps taken to protect, the environment at each location he visited. In its donation to the museum project, in its provision of educational material for schools and in facilitating the making of the video, RTZ is providing an example of what mining companies should be doing to raise public awareness of the benefits.

In 1999 Pettifer again acted as a corporate spin doctor for Rio Tinto by praising the company policy in relation to indigenous peoples. According to Lloyds List:

RIO Tinto has received praise from television journalist and writer Julian Pettifer, for its considerate behaviour towards indigenous people living near the planned Diavik diamond mine, 300 km northeast of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories. The resources company has been under fire in the past from campaigners for allegedly over-exploitative activities in other parts of the world.

Mr Pettifer reports in the latest issue of Rio Tinto's Review magazine how he was impressed by the dedication of the company team that has been consulting with aboriginal interests in Canada over four years. The public involvement programme went far beyond anything the regulations required, he said, and the development was likely to go ahead if the commercial climate were right.

References and external resources

Resources

• BBC Biography
• Images at the National Portrait Gallery
• Green Gurus - Downloadable documentary series on BBC Radio 4
• - www.GreenGuru.ie - The Real Irish GreenGuru website