BBC in the dock

May 29, 2021
New Delhi: BBC is not new to courting controversies over its news gathering operations, but ultimately the BBC staffers’ commitment to high standards of professionalism has always given it another breather.

Last week on Thursday, an independent 127-page report filed by a retired High Court judge Lord Dyson found that BBC used “deceitful” methods before and after its iconic 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana. According to Reuters, the scandal has blown up, highly damaging BBC’s reputation.

On Monday, the British Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said, “The BBC must act quickly to restore trust and reassure the country that it will shine a light on any other areas falling short of the high standards we rightly expect from it,” Fox News reported.

“The BBC needs to improve its culture to ensure that this never happens again and that means a new emphasis on accuracy, impartiality and diversity of opinion,” Dowden sai

The investigation began in November 2020 after Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, complained of dishonest tactics being used to manipulate him and Diana.

The Dyson report found that BBC journalist and interviewer Martin Bashir forged bank documents to convince Princess Diana’s brother to introduce him to the princess.

Immediately after the 1995 Panorama documentary aired, Matt Weissler, the graphic designer whom Bashir commissioned to create the bank statements, brought his concerns to BBC management, Fox News reported. In response, BBC management stopped giving Weissler work and knowingly covered up Bashir’s wrongdoings.

David Elstein in his opinion piece in The Open Democracy rightly points out that Dyson’s remit did not include two other relevant issues. First, why did the BBC managers choose to ignore the settled protocol on how to seek royal interviews? Second, why Bashir was re-hired by the BBC as a religious affairs correspondent long after the facts of his deception in obtaining the Diana interview had become known, not least to the man who had investigated his behaviour in 1995 and was BBC director-general at the time of Bashir’s return.

Elstein goes on to give an elaborate sequence of actions taken by BBC’s senior managers. He says that the first of these issues – bypassing established rules – was, at the time, treated as something of a triumph of enterprise over convention. For reasons never explained (and his death in 2017 leaves the questions unanswered), Steve Hewlett, the much-respected editor of Panorama in 1995, made two controversial decisions.

He agreed to let Bashir hijack a running discussion between the BBC and Buckingham Palace as to when and by whom Princess Diana might agree to be interviewed. (She was known to be keen to have her say; her husband had confessed to his adultery in an ITV programme one year earlier.) And Hewlett strongly vouched for Bashir when he managed to secure a meeting (on his own, with no producer present) with Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer. Bashir had presented Spencer with faked bank statements that suggested his former head of security was being secretly paid by a newspaper and the secret services. Spencer had phoned Hewlett to check Bashir’s credentials

Bashir moved from the BBC to ITV in 1993, and in 2003 he scored another massive interview – with Michael Jackson.

He spent eight months with the singer to produce the documentary Living With Michael Jackson. In the film he quizzed the late singer on why he let children sleep in his bed, saying he felt “uneasy” about Jackson’s relationship with children.

Bashir resigned from US news and chat network MSNBC after controversial remarks he made about former US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In November 2013 he referred to the Republican as a “world-class idiot”, after she compared the US debt crisis to slavery.

He commented: “When Mrs Palin invokes slavery, she doesn’t just prove her rank ignorance she confirms if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, she would be the outstanding candidate.”

Earlier, in a speech in 2008 that was supposed to champion the cause of minority groups, Bashir stunned the audience by referring to a group of American journalists as “Asian babes”. He took it even further, saying he was glad the podium was covering the lower half of his body.

With his then ABC 20/20 news programme co-star Juju Chang standing nearby, he said a speech should be “like a dress on a beautiful woman – long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest – like my colleague Juju’s”.

He later apologised for his comments, telling New York magazine: “Upon reflection, it was a tasteless remark that I now bitterly regret

In 2016, Bashir was rehired at BBC, despite concerns about his conduct, reported BBC. Bashir resigned last week, citing health reasons.

The Princes’ reaction
In a statement, Prince William, 38, has said the BBC’s failures contributed to the deterioration of his parents’ marriage and worsened Diana’s feelings of paranoia.
“The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others,” he said.

Prince Harry, meanwhile, said the issue was bigger than just the BBC – and that “the ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life.”

On Monday, the BBC board put out a statement fully accepting the findings of the Dyson report and reiterating an apology. According to Reuters, the board also stated that it would be reviewing editorial policies and the robustness of whistle-blower processes.

“We must not just assume that mistakes of the past cannot be repeated today — we must make sure that this is the case,” the board said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The report and public backlash comes at a sensitive time for BBC, said Reuters. The publicly funded media outlet has a midterm review of its royal charter next year. The royal charter is an agreement between BBC and the U.K. government regarding the publication’s funding and running, reported BBC.

Meanwhile, the British tabloid press and rival broadcasters are going ga ga over Beeb’s discomfiture, as they have brought many senior managers’ role and conduct into question. But it is nothing new for the tabloid press and other networks who don’t respect the privacy of others for getting a story.

However, based on my personal experience at the BBC I can say that the BBC’s commitment to integrity, truthfulness and empathy and not resorting to any unlawful means to get a story are instilled in every reporter/correspondent. And if any deviations to these are identified then the senior managers and their seniors should also be questioned.

Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi.
He was also associated with BBC Urdu Service and Khaleej Times of Dubai.
He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs.
Email: asad.mirza.nd@gmail.com

–INDIA NEWS STREAM