Angus Stickler (born 1964) was the lead reporter for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism until his resignation in December 2012. [1] In 2006 he was named News Journalist of the Year at the 24th Sony Radio Academy Awards. [2] In 2011 he won the UACES/Thomson Reuters Reporting Europe prize for the Bureau's investigation into EU structural funds. [3] In 2011 he won an Amnesty International Media Award for his work on the Bureau's website. [4]
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Stickler made the headlines in November 2012 when an investigation he led for the BBC programme Newsnight was found to have falsely implicated a former senior Conservative politician in the North Wales child abuse scandal. [5]
The person who was the focus of the Newsnight broadcast was widely identified on the internet as the former Conservative Party Treasurer Lord McAlpine. [6] Lord McAlpine issued a statement strongly denying the accusations. [7] This allegation was subsequently admitted by the BBC to be false. [8]
The broadcasting of the false claim led to the resignation of George Entwistle as Director-General of the BBC on 10 November 2012. [9] Lord Patten, Chairman of the BBC Trust, described the report as "unacceptable shoddy journalism". [10]
Stickler resigned from the Bureau in light of the Newsnight report. [11]