BBC releases 3,000 emails on Princess Diana interview scandal; journalist Martin Bashir blamed ‘professional jealousy’
Journalist Martin Bashir, accused of deceiving Princess Diana to get the sensational 1995 interview for BBC, blamed “professional jealousy” along with his ethnicity and background for the allegations against him.
In this Nov. 21, 1995 file photo a selection of front pages of most of Britains’s national newspapers showing their reaction to Princess Diana’s television interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir. (AP)
The BBC released around 3,000 internal emails in relation to the scandal, after a court ordered so in December last year.
The BBC said, “His comments were written in 2020, before documentaries examining the 1995 interview were broadcast.”
Investigative journalist Andy Webb submitted a freedom of information (FoI) request about two years ago after claims surfaced that BBC editors and managers attempted to hide Bashir’s actions.
The controversy surrounding how Bashir obtained a Panorama interview with Diana in 1995 surfaced when Tony Hall, the former BBC head of news, privately indicated that Diana’s brother Charles Spencer had provided Bashir with bank statements.
However, it was revealed that Bashir had actually forged bank statements in 1995 and presented them to Earl Spencer, constituting a “serious breach” of the broadcaster’s producer guidelines.
The BBC has said that any suggestions that it acted in bad faith were “simply wrong”.
What do the emails reveal?
In an email on July 20, 2020, Bashir told BBC History head Robert Seatter that the forged documents did not play a role in securing the interview with Diana and less controversy would have been caused if a “dynastic” journalist was involved.
Bashir wrote, “I am sorry to hear that this so-called ‘forgery’ story has reared its head again. It played no part in the interview but did allow professional jealousy, particularly within the corporation, to hang its hat on alleged wrongdoing.”
“At the time, it was also apparent that there was some irritation that a second-generation immigrant of non-white, working class roots should have the temerity to enter a Royal Palace and conduct an interview. It would have been so much easier if one of the dynastic families (Dimbleby et al) had done it!” Bashir added.
He told Seatter that the staff of the then-Prince of Wales, now King, for not giving any interviews about the programme.
Bashir wrote, “Since returning to the UK in 2015, and re-joining the BBC in 2016, senior staff in the Prince of Wales’ Office (to my surprise) have expressed their gratitude for my declining of all requests to discuss the interview. As I am sure you will understand, the words of the late princess have been deployed to attack surviving members of the Royal Family, particularly the Prince of Wales, something that I have never wanted to do.”
Bashir resigned from his position as the BBC’s religion editor shortly before the release of the inquiry’s critical report, which also censured the broadcaster for its handling of allegations regarding his tactics.
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