John Ware is a British journalist, author, and investigative reporter.
He was a newspaper reporter from 1971 to 1977 and then changed to Television journalism.
Across his career, Ware has written for a number of newspapers, including The Sun , The Sunday Telegraph , The Sunday Times , The Guardian , The Observer , the Daily Mail , The Times , the Daily Express , The Jewish Chronicle and magazines such as The Spectator and Standpoint . [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Ware was also a reporter on the BBC public affairs documentary programme Panorama from 1986. [6]
Ware was educated at Hurstpierpoint College, a boarding school for boys near the village of Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex. He did not go to university. [7]
Between 1971 and 1974, Ware worked for the Droitwich Guardian, followed by the Worcester Evening News . [7] In 1974 he joined The Sun newspaper and was covering the Northern Ireland conflict. He moved to television in 1977, joining the ITV's World in Action , becoming a producer in 1981. [7] He joined the BBC's Panorama programme in 1986 and presented other programmes including Rough Justice , Taking Liberties and Inside Story. Several of the cases profiled in Rough Justice were referred back to the Court of Appeal, and several resulted in overturned convictions. [1]
He left the BBC in 2012, and works as a freelance reporter for the BBC and ITV.
Amongst his TV documentaries for ITV, the BBC and C4 are the following: [1]
A number of Ware's programmes have attracted trenchant criticism:
Asylum seekers
The then Home Secretary, David Blunkett described "The Asylum Game" (2003) [20] as a "poorly researched and overspun documentary" which uncritically repeated the claims of MigrationWatch UK, an organisation campaigning for tightening restrictions on immigration to the UK. [21] Ware denied this in a response to Blunkett's comments. [22] Save for The Guardian, however, the programme was reviewed positively by the rest of the mainstream media, [23] with Blunkett’s criticism described as “intemperate” in The Sunday Times.
Ware has reported two Panorama documentaries on the Labour Party in recent years: on Jeremy Corbyn's campaign to be elected as Labour Party leader and in 2019 Ware reported on allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party in an extended Panorama programme entitled "Is Labour Anti-Semitic?"
The 2015 programme "Jeremy Corbyn: Labour's Earthquake", attracted hundreds of complaints, including from Corbyn's campaign team, and was described by a member of Corbyn's campaign team as "containing factual inaccuracies" and "a complete hatchet job". [34] The BBC rejected the claims.
The 2019 programme "Is Labour Anti-Semitic?" [35] was nominated for two British Journalism Awards in the 'Investigation' and 'Politics Journalism' categories. [36] The Labour Party, then led by Jeremy Corbyn, strongly condemned the programme, stating that it contained "deliberate and malicious representations designed to mislead". The party stated that "Panorama has pre-determined the outcome of its investigation and is relying on unsubstantiated allegations and misrepresentation to come to its conclusions". [37] Labour submitted a formal complaint about the programme to the BBC, but this was rejected by the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit. [38] [39] Over 20 complaints of bias were taken to Ofcom, who ruled that the programme had been "duly impartial" and had given appropriate weight to Labour's position. [40]
Five of the Labour Party whistleblowers interviewed in the programme announced their intention to sue the party, claiming that Labour's response breached its commitment to protect the rights of whistleblowers and defamed them. [41] [42] Ware also launched legal action against the Labour Party, alleging it had libelled him in statements following the broadcast of the programme. [43] On 22 July 2020, the Keir Starmer-led Labour Party retracted a number of allegations that it had made in relation to both John Ware and a number of participants in the Panorama documentary in full. The party issued a formal apology, and agreed to pay substantial damages and costs. [44]
In a statement, the BBC said it “welcomed” the “long overdue apology to John Ware and the seven Panorama whistle-blowers who have been subjected to painful and damaging attacks on their integrity and character” adding “John Ware is a reporter with an extraordinary record of excellence at Panorama for investigative journalism in the public interest.” [45]
Jeremy Corbyn and some Labour Party members stood by the original accusations. In 2020, Ware commenced legal proceedings against Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi and Richard Kuper of Jewish Voice for Labour for making false allegations about his journalistic career and the programme. [46] [47]
In September 2022, they agreed to issue a full public apology and in a settlement are reported to have paid £200,000 in costs and damages. [48] Ware also won a libel case against Paddy French, editor of Press Gang and Rebecca Television. [49]
Ware is co-author, with Gerald Posner, of Mengele: The Complete Story, 1986. [55] [56]
In 2012, Ware took voluntary redundancy from the BBC, but has continued with some freelance work. [6] Since leaving the BBC, he has published articles about its top management. [29] [57]
In April 2020, he was part of a consortium which bought The Jewish Chronicle after it went into liquidation. [58]
In September 2023, he released a TV documentary titled The Dark Side of Roger Waters, made in collaboration with the Campaign Against Antisemitism, in which he investigates accusations against the musician Roger Waters of antisemitic behavior. [59] [60]
Ware was married to Helena (née Keele), and had three children with her – the actress Hannah Ware, singer-songwriter Jessie Ware and doctor Alex, all of whom were raised in the Jewish faith. [61] [62] Ware now lives in north-west London with his wife, the television producer Wendy Robbins, who is also Jewish, [63] and their three children. [7]
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