Diana’s interview and questioning triggered a new crisis of confidence for the BBC

Diana, Princess of Wales, even before the BBC was in crisis Panorama Interviews were broadcast, lies and forged documents were exposed, and the BBC was caught in another scandal about editorial standards and cover-up culture 25 years later.

Recorded on Guy Fawkes Day in 1995 and edited secretly in the Eastbourne hotel. Reporter Martin Bashir was considered a long-established gambling from the beginning , For a listed company that relies on the Royal Charter to exist, the license fee payer and the government agree.

Such a sensitive decision made the then Director-General John Lord Birt stay in the dark with his chairman, the monarchy Marmaduke Hussey, until Diana was in The tape described her “crowded” marriage. Before 23 million viewers watched it, Birt faced a call to resign. He wrote in his memoirs: “I have a chilling feeling that my head would roll because of crimes a few centuries ago.”

His reason for approving the interview-in Birt’s opinion that it is a more democratic era that requires action with the audience-cuts into the core influence of the BBC today: the threat of losing the support of the audience.

Bilt said to Robert Fellowes, the Queen’s personal secretary at the time: “Modern institutions must eventually operate in the way the public wants, and we did it.” “They have no choice but to be completely transparent. The BBC has no lasting secrets.”

This has been true for a quarter of a century.One Official query Finally exposed Bashir’s Deception Net Before securing interviews and subsequent cover-ups, the BBC faced criticism from Diana’s son and ministers. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden talked about “damn failure”, which may require rethinking governance.

Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, a media watchdog, said that Dyson’s report raises “important questions about the BBC’s transparency and accountability”. She added that the regulator will discuss with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) “what further action may be needed to ensure that this never happens”.

Bashir (Bashir) resigned from the BBC last week due to illness, and last Friday, former BBC news executive Tim Suter, who participated in the original internal investigation, resigned from the Ofcom board.

This incident allowed the BBC to scramble to maintain the trust of the public-people who have watched the heir to the throne Prince William blames It betrays the parents and exacerbates the mother’s “fear, paranoia, and isolation”.

It left a dangerous flank for the BBC enemies in Westminster and “Fleet Street”.

“In a sense, this was 25 years ago. The BBC is a completely different place – it has been overseen by external agencies and its revenue has been greatly reduced – therefore, the BBC is the same as 25 years ago. The statement in the same place is wrong,” said Jean Seaton, the official historian of the BBC. “But undoubtedly, this does give part of the government-if they fail to see the importance of the BBC for the future-this situation will impress the British public.”

The failures discovered in 1995 and the subsequent “extremely ineffective” investigations were devastating and prompted all parties to apologize. This kind of misconduct does not have the industrial scale of the British tabloid phone hacking scandal, nor does it have the chain of responsibility that caused individuals to remain in top positions in the BBC news organization.

But there is no doubt that this raises profound questions for the BBC. Until last year, the BBC was hosted by Lord Tony Hall, one of the most severely critical investigations of Bashir’s conduct in 1996. Despite knowing the use of forged documents, he discovered that he was “honest and respectable” and later served as director general, blessing Bashir to return to the BBC as a senior reporting position.

Mark Stephens, a well-known media lawyer for Howard Kennedy, said: “In most organizations, they would have called the police and immediately expelled Bashir for deception.” Instead, BBC The company made him their religious correspondent. A former executive of the BBC’s era said: “The scoops that happily landed this century blinded them. “

Hall’s departure last year means that he is working hard to keep his position as the chairman of the National Gallery, rather than as the head of the BBC. A government insider pointed out that his next meeting with the gallery patron Prince Charles may be “very difficult.”

A direct threat to the leader rather than the leader Tim Davie The BBC he was in charge of last June is more political and financial.

Since being appointed as Hall’s successor, David has been maintaining a smooth relationship with Boris Johnson’s No. 10, partly because he embraced priorities: pride in the flag and fairness in news reporting. The Bashir scandal may reawaken the debate about big cities’ prejudices, anger critics, and may prompt the government to adopt a more radical attitude.

Dawton is satisfied with the overall structure of the BBC-through the reorganized board of directors and the direct supervision of the media regulator Ofcom-to reduce the risk of another Bashir incident. But he is open to the reform ideas of the BBC’s upcoming mid-term charter review.

Lord Michael Grade, the former chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), suggested the creation of a new editorial board for news standards, stating that the “cliche” will not be cut this time. Prime Minister Johnson specifically pointed out on Friday that ensuring that the “Bashir scandal” does not happen again is “a decision by the BBC.”

There will also be potential financial implications. Lawyers expect the BBC will face major compensation claims from victims, including members of the royal family who lost their jobs for forging the spy Diana.

Davie was also locked in to negotiate with the government at the government level. License fee, So there are reasons to increase the BBC budget in the next five years. Given that this is essentially a plea for taxpayers’ generosity, the timing of the Bashir scandal will hardly be worse.

Former BBC executive Pat Younger said: “Of course, this is a tool for criticizing the BBC.” British Broadcasting Challenge, This is a sports group that puts pressure on the government to censor the public service media. “And the BBC is still beating its own world leader at such a time.”