More than 3,000 emails between several BBC directors and bosses and journalist Martin Bashir, sent over a two-month period in 2020, have just been published by the British broadcaster after journalist Andy Webb, citing the right based on information that he had received a court ruling in his favor last December.
Webb examines the controversial interview Lady Di gave to the Panorama television program hosted by Martin Bashir in 1995. An interview that went around the world in which the princess spoke openly about her marital problems with the then heir to the throne. She questioned her estranged husband's abilities and left memorable sentences like “There were three of us in this marriage.” “It was a little crowded,” he admits to over 23 million viewers about Charles of England's infidelity. What was considered the “reveal of the century” was exposed as a pattern of journalistic misconduct in 2020 when a documentary called “The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess”, broadcast on ITV, exposed the bad tricks used by Lady Di had been managed to appear in front of the BBC cameras and uncover a whole blackmail and lying plot, with the help of which the then wife was supposed to be convinced that she was the heir to the throne. Now Webb wants to know more details, as he suspects that the company's directors may have had more knowledge than they admitted, and wants to know what happened when the scandal was uncovered in which Bashir was found to have given the interview obtained through deception and forged documents until his official departure from the BBC in 2021.
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Newly released emails show that Bashir believed his class and race played a role in the scandal, making him a scapegoat for the entire chain. In an email dated July 20, 2020, Bashir told BBC history chief Robert Seatter that the forged documents had played no role in obtaining the interview and that it would have caused less controversy if the interview had been conducted. Journalist like David Dimbleby (historic political journalist in the UK and son and brother of two well-known journalists). “I'm sorry to hear that this alleged 'fake story' has resurfaced. This had nothing to do with getting the interview, but rather allowed professional jealousy, particularly within the company, to take the blame for alleged irregularities,” writes Bashir. “It was also obvious at the time that there was some anger that a second-generation, working-class, non-white immigrant had the audacity to enter the royal palace and do an interview. “It would have been much easier if one of the dynastic families (e.g. Dimbleby) had done it!” he adds.
In the days after it emerged that Bashir had, among others, shown fake bank statements to Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, to persuade the Princess of Wales to do the interview, numerous emails were sent within the BBC: “Since I returned in 2015 returned to the UK and rejoined the BBC in 2016. “The Prince of Wales’s office staff have (to my surprise) expressed their gratitude for declining all requests to discuss the interview,” it said.
Webb v BBC
“You may be wondering, what more can be said about Bashir’s scandalous trap for Diana?” Webb himself wrote in an article published in The Mail On Sunday on December 9th. “We know that the journalist only got his sensational interview with the Princess in 1995 by selling her a litany of lies and slander. Thanks to Lord Dyson's 2021 report, we also know that BBC bosses at the time covered up much of what they knew about Bashir's hoax. But I have long believed that this is a much bigger story and that the company's attempts to silence this scandal did not end 28 years ago,” the journalist explained about his investigation.
Princess Diana in front of journalist Martin Bashir during interview at Kensington Palace in 1995. Tim Graham (Corbis via Getty Images)
Now the journalist claims that the documents obtained (3,288 emails in total) show that the BBC hid key internal evidence relating to the investigation it conducted around the Panorama interview. In an October 19, 2019, email, a lawyer wrote to a former TV show editor, explaining that “the company is not currently releasing all documents from the internal investigation.”
After the emails were published, Webb said: “The BBC clearly admits that documents were withheld. In my opinion this is a cover up. And it is obvious at first glance that this material is very relevant, despite the BBC assuring the judge that it was completely irrelevant. For its part, the British public broadcaster has assured: “Throughout this process we have taken very seriously our responsibility to comply with the court's instructions.” “There is nothing to support the allegations that the BBC was in bad shape in 2020 “The BBC has acted intentionally and we maintain that this suggestion is simply wrong.” As a sign of this goodwill, the BBC recalled that on previous occasions “far from being secretive or covering up” these matters, it has taken action has taken, such as appointing Lord Dyson to conduct an independent inquiry, which was eventually due to be published in 2021. That report concluded that the public broadcaster “failed to meet its high standards of integrity and transparency.”
Webb disagrees, stating that it “makes no sense” that the network spent so much time and money trying to prevent the release of these documents and believes they will provide sufficient evidence that Bashir did not the only one is responsible for the interview. . Diana's brother Charles Spencer is of the same opinion and has supported the ongoing investigation: “Those responsible at the BBC have hidden behind expensive lawyers at a time when the BBC, this great national and international institution, is making money.” Cuts. And I think that’s obscene,” he said on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House last December.