Surprise at Simpson's Sky appearance

Eyebrows were raised at John Simpson's appearance on Sky News

An attack on a US network's team in Iraq, together with some unrelated remarks in the UK press, has brought the subject of journalists' safety into the headlines.

As the story played itself out, the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson was interviewed by Sky News.

The move led to questions in some newspapers, but the BBC's head of newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, says some things are more important than rivalries.

It seems eyebrows were raised about BBC world affairs editor John Simpson's appearance on rival broadcaster, Sky News, from Baghdad yesterday. In the wake of the tragic deaths of the CBS news team, he was asked to take part in a discussion of the safety issues for journalists covering Iraq.

Safety is a strictly non-competitive issue between media organisations Fran Unsworth

Sky asked us if they could interview him in the morning and we agreed. (There was a bit of a communication breakdown in that those of us involved in the decision failed to tell others, so it came as more of a surprise to some in the BBC than it should have.)

But more interesting is the question of whether or not John should have appeared on a rival broadcaster. And I am intrigued over how this was reported on the Media Guardian website:

"One in the eye for Sky," it reported. "In a curious move, Simpson appeared on the roof of a Baghdad building to talk about the dangers of working in Iraq while his opposite number, Sky's foreign editor Tim Marshall was sat cosily in the studio... maybe the BBC was trying to get one over its news rivals."

I can assure the diarist that the BBC was not trying to put "one over" a news rival. He or she seems unaware that safety is a strictly non-competitive issue between media organisations. The London-based broadcast media - the BBC, Sky News, ITN and CNN - all meet up regularly to share information and advice about reporting from dangerous places.

Yesterday Sky News illuminated for its audience how news organisations go about operating under such dangerous security conditions. All credit to them for interviewing someone with huge credibility and first hand experience - even if he does work for the opposition.