BBCFindings of investigation into tactics used by journalist Martin Bashir in 1995 are due to be published
The findings of the BBCs inquiry into the tactics Martin Bashir used to obtain his sensational interview with Princess Diana are due to be published, and former senior executives associated with the 1995 Panorama programme have been told to expect criticism in the report.
Tim Davie, the BBC director general, commissioned an independent investigation into how the journalist persuaded the royal to be interviewed after pressure from Dianas family prompted by 25th-anniversary coverage of the broadcast last year.
The findings of the report, led by the retired supreme court judge Lord Dyson and delivered to the BBC last Friday, will cover issues including whether Bashir used fake documents to gain the trust of the family, and the subsequent actions of BBC bosses who dealt with the allegations.
Bashir and a number of senior executives at the corporation at the time, including the former director general Tony Hall who at the time was the BBC news chief, have been given advance warning of findings, according to sources.
Bashir, who has quit the BBC on health grounds after being on sick leave for several months, is reportedly very worried about the reports conclusions, according to the Daily Mail. The 58-year-old, most recently the BBCs religion editor, has had a quadruple heart bypass and been seriously unwell with Covid-related complications. Other recipients of the warning letter, including Hall, have been described as feeling uncomfortable about the reports contents.
According to Thursdays Daily Telegraph, the report has concluded Bashir deployed deceitful methods in securing the interview, in breach of BBC editorial rules.
Richard Ayre, the BBCs controller of editorial policy in 1995, told the Telegraph he had informed Dyson in evidence that Bashir would have breached guidelines in mocking up the statements and showing them to Dianas brother, Earl Spencer.
He said: The use of deceit in making factual programmes would have been permissible only in the case of investigating serious crime and where prima facie evidence of the guilt of that person being investigated had already been obtained.
Those circumstances clearly dont apply to an interview with the Princess of Wales.
After publication of the report a Panorama investigation into the 1995 interview will air on BBC One at 7pm, having been delayed from its scheduled broadcast slot on Monday night.
The interview made Bashir a star after an audience of almost 23m tuned in to hear Diana reveal details of her life and make the famous comment that there were three of us in this marriage, in reference to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
However, for decades questions have persisted over the tactics employed by Bashir to get the princess to speak on camera about her life and the disintegration of her marriage to Prince Charles.
Matt Wiessler, a graphic designer who worked on BBC programmes, previously told the Guardian he was phoned by Bashir one evening in 1995 and asked to mock up some fake bank statements at short notice.
It is claimed Bashir then used the fake documents to convince Spencer that the media were paying associates of the family for information, in an attempt to win the trust of the family and secure a more revealing interview.
The BBC launched an internal investigation at the time, with Hall concluding that Bashir wasnt thinking when he commissioned the graphic but was ultimately an honest and honourable man.
While Bashir went on to have a successful career, conducting major interviews with the likes of Michael Jackson, Wiessler found himself blacklisted by the corporation after being made the fall guy for mocking up the documents.
The BBC has said it holds a handwritten note from Diana stating that the documents played no part in her decision to take part in the interview.
Hall later became the BBC director general and was in post when the broadcaster took Bashir on again as religion editor in 2016.
The media attention and persistent lobbying from Spencer resulted in the BBC launching a new investigation into the interview, a move welcomed by Prince William as a step in the right direction.
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