Martin Bashir scandal: BBC to review policies on Diana’s report, says ‘the public had a right to expect better’ | Ents & Arts News

The BBC Board announced a review of the company’s editorial policies and said “the public has a right to expect better” following the inquiry into their 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

Lord Dyson’s investigation concluded that the journalist Martin bashir used “deceptive behavior” to land the exclusive world and which an internal BBC investigation a year later had covered up.

Following the publication of the report, Bashir apologized to Harry and William but stopped before admitting he had cheated Diane in the Panorama interview.

In a statement, the BBC’s board has now responded to the independent inquiry, admitting the failures and saying it hopes to ensure that the “mistakes of the past” are not repeated.

“We have accepted Lord Dyson’s findings in their entirety and reiterate our apologies to all those affected by the identified failures,” the statement read. “We recognize the impact that the events he describes had on so many people, especially those whose lives were personally affected by what happened. We also recognize that the public had a right to expect better from the BBC.

“As a board of directors, we think the BBC is a different organization today, with different and stronger governance and improved processes. Nonetheless, Lord Dyson’s report points to historic surveillance failures and needs to be reflected on. We don’t just have to assume that the mistakes of the past can’t be repeated today – we need to make sure that is the case.

“We are convinced that the BBC’s processes and guidelines today are much stronger than they were in 1995, but we know that we must also do what we can to prevent such incident does not happen again. As such, we believe it is fair that we examine the effectiveness of the BBC’s editorial policy and governance in detail. “