Analysis: a revered public service broadcaster cannot be seen to have an ‘end justifies the means’ mentality
Lord Dyson’s report into how the BBC obtained and then investigated Martin Bashir’s groundbreaking interview is devastating: its star journalist lied, the BBC’s own investigation was “woefully inadequate” and then the BBC covered up this appalling behaviour for 26 years.
The 127-page report goes into excruciating detail of how senior executives – one of whom went on to become the director general – “too readily accepted” Bashir’s own version of events in an attempt to safeguard an award-winning interview that continues to have reverberations to this day.
