Annoncering
One Rogue Reporter - TrailerVICE: Tell me about quitting the Daily Star?
Rich Peppiat: What always really upset me was the anti-Islam stuff. The Daily Star had a real hard-on for anti-Muslim stories. They were putting things on the front page like "The English Defence League are the current political party". I remember going to an EDL rally as a reporter and the minute they found out I was from the Daily Star they started picking me up and holding me aloft like I was their hero or something. They saw the Daily Star as being their newspaper and that's when I just thought, "Jesus fucking Christ, what am I doing with my life that these morons are lauding me as their voice?" And so it was things like that that built up and up and eventually I sort of snapped.
Annoncering
I certainly don't hold myself up as some hero of the piece, because I think most people wouldn't have lasted as long as I did [2-and-a-half years]. They would have left the first time they got asked to wear a Burka. I think that certainly questions my own moral integrity. It's something I still think about. I think it was cowardice. I was too scared to stand up for myself and too scared to risk my career. I was far too interested in climbing up the greasy pole. It's a very competitive industry and I'm a competitive person, but in the process I completely sold myself down the river and it came to a point where I didn't like who I was. I wasn't happy and I was depressed. It's taken me a long time to get back to a place that feels like something more true to me.
The Kelvin MacKenzie prank just because he walks into every punch that I threw at him. Even I couldn't believe just quite how much he was digging his own grave, so that was the most satisfying certainly. The moment when he finally recognises that what is being read out to him are his own text messages is certainly enjoyable for the audience. I could see by the glint in his eye when all of a sudden the panic set in and he thought, "Hang on – this isn't what I thought it was, this is me isn't it". For me though the constant battle was not to laugh and ruin the whole thing.
Annoncering
I don't really think that there are many newspapers that would want Kelvin MacKenzie's texts and even less that would want to buy them off of me.Why wouldn't they want to publish his texts?
Because there's this thing that's colloquially called the "no-pissing-pact", where newspaper editors don't go after each other's private lives. It's a long-standing tradition.How did you decide what pranks to do?
I went over the Leveson Inquiry and based it on the people who pissed me off the most. I was like, "You're a dick I think you deserve to get turned over". All the stunts are about exposing hypocrisy, so it was a matter of trying to work out exactly what these editors do that is in contrast to their public declarations.Mackenzie was slightly different though because all the other editors like to pretend that they're good, upstanding, lovely, moral people whereas what they do for work all day belies that that's untrue. However MacKenzie is an unashamed scumbag – he's quite proud of it. And so MacKenzie is the one where it wasn't really exposing hypocrisy, it was just giving him a kick.
What I wanted to show is that they believe it's one rule for them and one for everyone else and that it's OK to send out people to harass people unfairly, but if you try doing it to them then they're not very happy about it. I think if you're going to live by the sword you have to die by the sword. That counts for me as much as anyone. I know that I put myself out there, going out after them and if someone wanted to stunt me then I'd probably be deserving of it and I wouldn't be complaining. Whereas them – they don't like it up 'em.
Annoncering
That's a very good question, because that's what the whole film is about. There is no set boundary. The point I wanted to make is that far too often people want to be told, "this is where the boundary lies", whereas in fact, every person needs to make their own decision as to what's acceptable.Certainly in the film, people could argue that I cross the line in certain parts, that I shouldn't be invading people's privacy in the way that I do, whether they've done it to other people or not. But that's fine, as long as people are talking about it and thinking for themselves. What is acceptable? Is it acceptable to put a video of someone's asshole and balls in my film because they have written kiss and tells? I think so, but maybe you don't, maybe other people don't.Why don't you get your own back on your old boss from The Daily Star in the film?
On my long list of people to target, he was certainly there. We did actually have a stunt planned, but with the budget we had it ended up being too difficult to do so we ended up dropping it. I'm not going to say what it was because I might still do it now. Let's just say I've got a few other things up my sleeve. I might not be finished quite yet.So is there going to be a One Rogue Reporter number 2?
Not in this country there won't be. I'm developing a second film going after the American media. I've been in New York and Washington for the last couple of months, trying to work out how I'll go about it. It's certainly a different situation. Having made One Rogue Reporter completely off my own back, with no money, no backing, no nothing, having a production company on board you've got scope to do much bigger things.
Annoncering
It's not something that's foregrounded in the film, but certainly on a personal level yeah I think that was a subconscious motivation, there was a degree of trying to right a wrong. I do feel guilty about some of the things I did and this feels like a bit of atonement for that.@Georgia_c_RoseOne Rogue Reporter is in cinemas now and on VoD from the 10th of DecemberMore journalists:Correspondent ConfidentialWhat an OmnishamblesThe Female Journalists of Juarez