Entertainment
BBC hit with complaints over findings of Martin Bashir Princess Diana Panorama interview report
The BBC has been hit with complaints over the findings of Lord Dyson’s investigation into Martin Bashir’s Panorama interview with the late Princess Diana, which took place in 1995.
Earlier this month, an inquiry concluded that Bashir used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure his interview with the Princess of Wales, stating that the journalist commissioned fake bank documents to acquire access to the royal.
The Panorama interview famously saw Princess Diana divulge details of her relationship to Prince Charles, saying that there were ‘three of us’ in their marriage, in reference to his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
In a statement, Bashir said: ‘I never wanted to harm Diana in any way and I don’t believe we did,’ adding that he was ‘deeply sorry’ to the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex.
In a new statement from the BBC Board published on its website, it stated that the broadcaster ‘received complaints from people unhappy with the findings of Lord Dyson’s investigation into Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales’.
The board said that they were ‘concerned by the findings’ of the report, outlining that they accepted its conclusion and ‘reiterate the apology we have offered to all those affected by the failings identified’.
While the group said that they are of the opinion that ‘the BBC is a different organisation today’, the investigation ‘speaks to historic failings of oversight’ which ‘should be reflected upon’.
‘We must not just assume that mistakes of the past cannot be repeated today – we must make sure that this is the case,’ the statement read.
The board said that while the ‘processes and guidelines’ of the BBC ‘are much stronger than they were in 1995’, the ‘effectiveness of the firm’s editorial policies and governance’ are going to be examined.
This review will be carried out by ‘a group of non-executive Board Directors led by Sir Nick Serota, the BBC’s Senior Independent Director’, with the report expected to be presented to the Board by September.
‘Their work will focus on oversight of the BBC’s editorial practices and will consider in detail the robustness and independence of whistleblowing processes in editorial areas,’ the statement said.
‘This will include communicating with internal and external stakeholders and taking expert independent advice on the BBC’s approach. Their work will moreover identify the lessons to be learned from Lord Dyson’s review which may be relevant today.’
The board added that the BBC will also ‘participate fully in the next formal review of BBC governance, as set out in our Royal Charter’.
The BBC Board concluded their statement by emphasising that the release of the findings of Lord Dyson’s report ‘has been a profoundly sobering period for us all’.
‘The Board of the BBC has absolute faith that the mission and purposes of the BBC endure. We must strive to reinforce confidence in our world-class journalism and prove that we deserve the trust of all our audiences,’ they said.
When Lord Dyson’s findings were published, Lord Tony Hall – who was the director of BBC news and current affairs when the Diana interview aired – said that he accepted that the BBC’s 1996 inquiry into how Panorama secured the interview ‘fell well short of what was required’.
Bashir quit as the BBC’s religion editor earlier this month on health grounds while the investigation into his Princess Diana Panorama interview was ongoing.
It was confirmed earlier this week that the BBC is to investigate the rehiring of Bashir by the BBC in 2016 after he left the organisation in 1999.
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