editorial guidelines. not in kind. we did not pay. not in cash? no, we did not pay her. jonathan aspinwall, thank you so much for coming on. newswatch. thank you. jacinda ardern became the youngest female head of government in the world in 2017 when she was elected prime minister of new zealand at the age of 37. on thursday, she announced she was stepping down after what she described as six challenging years in the job. online and on social media, bbc world news headlined their story on this with the words, can women really have it all? and that met with a scathing response from the likes of cat. robert rutledge agreed. and here s catherine o brien.
and that s been the basis of this journalism. and i m really proud of the journalism that we ve done. it s very thorough. it tests what she s saying, and we never take what she says on face value. we really interrogate what she said, and i think that s really important. did the bbc pay her? it s really clear to say that the bbc did not pay her and that would be an absolute red line and that would break our editorial guidelines in kind. not in cash? no, we did not pay her. no. jonathan aspinwall, thank you so much for coming on. newswatch. thank you. jacinda ardern became the youngest female head of government in the world in 2017 when she was elected prime minister of new zealand at the age of 37. on thursday, she announced she was stepping down after what she described as six challenging years in the job.
well, the series editor of the shamima begum story isjonathan aspinwall, and we can talk to him now. thank you for coming on newswatch, jonathan. why did you think this was a podcast series worth making? i think this is an important podcast because of the forensic journalism around this particular story that we have done here at the bbc. it s a really important investigation into what shamima begum did and what she didn t do when she reached the islamic state territory. but it s also a retracing of herjourney from east london to turkey and then into syria and what exactly happened on that journey. it s important to stress that this is a story which is notjust told through challenging interviews with shamima begum. we then go and test what shamima begum has said with other eyewitnesses, with experts, and also with some of the victims of the islamic state. you see, people are saying, all very well, but is it