The Princess and the reporter

[ex-khobar Andy]

The BBC is becoming more and more unpopular in Britain, not least because of its apparent 'wokefulness' and its perceived lecturing/hectoring tone. And of course - long standing sore spot - it is supported by an annual fee all TV owners - whether or not they ever watch the Beeb - have to pay. Currently £157 (around $200) if you have a colo(u)r TV and only (!) £53 if you watch in black and white. (Are there really still monochrome TVs that work?). Old age pensioners get a break on the licence fee.*

I'm sure we've all seen the Diana interview ("There were three of us in the marriage.") from 1995, two years before she died. Martin Bashir, who parlayed his success in getting the interview into a BBC superstar career, is now known to have concocted (i.e., forged) some documents which seemed to suggest that some of Diana's staff had betrayed her for £££ and that she had better get her own story out before others, less friendly, might. These forged bank statements were shown to Diana's brother who therefore convinced her that she had better do the interview.

The BBC did an internal investigation when these allegations first surfaced some years ago and concluded that Bashir had done nothing wrong. So not only do we have obvious wrongdoing but also a self-serving ("We're the Beeb! You can't touch us!") ethos and the cries for a compete dismantling of the state broadcaster will be ever louder.

Which would be a pity. I say lock up Bashir and take away his pension. But there's quite a lot of baby there in the bathwater.

ETA: *Apparently that is no longer true as of 2020. Thank you Plan B fact checkers.

[Big RR]

Is a reporter lying to get a story really a crime for which (s)he could be locked up (in the UK)? I think this is probably done a lot. Sure, there is some "forging" of documents, but I don't see any use to, e.g., withdraw cash from an account (which would be a crime). More like salesmanship.

Now BBC could say it was against their ethical policies, maybe even cancel his pension (if that's what their rules say(, but I see no basis to lock him up.

[Gob]

The BBC is going to the wall. It's lost the respect of the nation, and with so many new streaming platforms the license is an anachronism.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Note the date on Gob's post Dec 2019. I couldn't find an update on the yougov site, but I bet the Beeb is now further into the tank.