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 to interview someone who joined a terror group to tell her story when
to interview someone who joined a terror group to tell her story when we know at the same time she s trying to win sympathy for her ongoing court case? i think the key things here are there is a lot of noise and some confusion over what exactly happened on that particularjourney from east london to syria, and we absolutely explore that. we never take her account as necessarily the truth. ourjob is to unpick. ourjob is to test. ourjob is to find out exactly what happened. and then there are key issues around radicalisation, and we know that radicalisation amongst young people is an issue. and shamima begum s experience tells us about radicalisation and you ll hear in this ten part podcast series about the radicalisation process in terms of propaganda, in terms of social media, there are important public interest editorialjustifications. those are all legitimate questions potentially, and it s all about the framing.