The BBC will be hit hard by revelations of how Bashir got the ‘scoop’ from Diana – and the damage will be hard to repair | UK News

Back then, the world couldn’t get enough of Princess Diana.

Everyone wanted this interview, and her decision to open up only further fueled the demand to learn more about her private life.

It wasn’t until now, 26 years later, that the buildup and tactics used to encourage him to speak up were discovered.

In 127 pages, Lord Dyson details the BBCthe internal investigation of and cover-up which meant the fact Martin bashir had false documents, while trying to secure the interview, had been hidden from the outside world.

In memos previously seen by Sky News, it was clear that the BBC knew that Bashir had forged documents and that Lord Hall had told him about it. But Lord Dyson describes the internal investigation as “woefully ineffective”.

“The investigation did not achieve its goal of finding out what Mr. Bashir had done or why he had done it,” he said.

A briefing note from an internal meeting is particularly shocking. In it, Anne Sloman, the acting weekly news editor, says: “Diana’s story is probably now dead, unless Spencer speaks.”

Speaking to Lord Dyson for the report, she admitted “it sounds a bit like the Mafia, but it wasn’t meant like that, I promise you”.

All internal discussions were kept quiet, but reporters at the time of the interview were already asking questions about whether Bashir told Diana she was being spied on.

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Responding to these reporters was another part of the cover-up, Lord Dyson believing that “the BBC had concealed facts in their newspapers as they could establish how Mr Bashir got the interview. the BBC has failed to uphold the high standards of integrity and transparency that are its hallmark. “

Much is …