Do we like Roger Cook?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A long career going after exploiters, with a contested doorstep style and a now-settled fakery claim, but no harmful words or company found.
Cook was born in New Zealand, raised in Australia and moved to the UK in the late 1960s. He started in radio, including BBC Radio 4 current affairs programmes like The World at One and PM, before landing at ITV. The Cook Report ran from 1987 to 1999 and pulled audiences of more than 12 million at its peak.
The show's trademark was the doorstep ambush: turn up, put the evidence to the person and let the cameras roll. Coverage credits Cook with helping make that technique a TV staple. His reporting went after organised crime, child exploitation and illegal trading networks, often in risky settings.
It was dangerous work. Cook was assaulted several times while chasing stories, according to the tributes. That's the cost of knocking on the doors of people who'd rather you didn't.
The big stain was a claim aimed at him. In 2000 the News of the World alleged some Cook Report episodes were faked and that criminals had been used to stage crimes for him to solve. Cook sued, and in 2002 the paper settled. It accepted the articles contained material inaccuracies, accepted the ITC found no evidence of fakery, and agreed not to republish the claims.
On the harm test, nothing turned up: no nasty words about LGBTQ+ people, women or migrants, no conspiracy rabbit holes, no dodgy company. The record is thin on that front, since most of what's out there is obituaries and one court settlement. The doorstep style is a fair debate, but it was aimed at alleged exploiters rather than the vulnerable.
The good stuff is the work itself. He received a BAFTA Special Award for 25 years of investigative reporting, and ITV called his approach “groundbreaking approach to investigative journalism”. He wrote several books, including his autobiography Dangerous Ground.