Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Hutton Report - publication day
I'll start this blog with the words of a journalist I trust:
Good afternoon, Jon Snow here with my first reaction to the Hutton report:
Hutton verdict: Government good; BBC bad
========================================
You don't order a public inquiry in this country as Prime Minister unless you are pretty confident of its outcome. Lord Hutton has rewarded Tony Blair's confidence. The Hutton Report into the death of Britain's top Iraq Weapons Inspector completely vindicates the Government in almost every quarter. There is mild criticism of unnamed Ministry of Defence officials for not caring more for Dr Kelly after he had been revealed as the source of the BBC's claim that Downing Street had 'sexed up' their dossier on Iraq's WMD.
Mr Blair attracts no criticism from the Judge, neither does the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, nor the top civil servant in the Defence Department, Kevin Tebbit. So in short, the Prime Minister did not lie. The BBC however did broadcast a lie, according to Hutton and fell down on its management systems. Hutton's findings damn the BBC, it will be a very difficult time for them.
In the end there is a culture clash surrounding this report. Whenever there is doubt involving the Government Lord Hutton determines that Government acts with integrity, journalists tend to regard the Government with scepticism. The true case for war has still not been inquired into nor the failure of the intelligence services. Though David Kay, who resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group only last week is giving evidence in Washington this afternoon. We'll see what he has to say.
Whatever, the likelihood is that the BBC and its fate will now come to dominate the debate rather than the issues surrounding the war. As regards the BBC, whatever mistakes were made, Government clashes with the state broadcaster are dangerous, there are implications for every journalist. This is very dicey territory. We could find that the death of David Kelly ends up robbing Britain of the best public service broadcaster in the world. To the great joy of several newspaper magnates and their empires.
More at: Channel 4 News
This is one of the most worrying and difficult days of my broadcasting career. I hope we rise to the occasion. We shall be trying at seven.
Hope to see you then
I wish you well,
Jon Snow
I'll start this blog with the words of a journalist I trust:
Good afternoon, Jon Snow here with my first reaction to the Hutton report:
Hutton verdict: Government good; BBC bad
========================================
You don't order a public inquiry in this country as Prime Minister unless you are pretty confident of its outcome. Lord Hutton has rewarded Tony Blair's confidence. The Hutton Report into the death of Britain's top Iraq Weapons Inspector completely vindicates the Government in almost every quarter. There is mild criticism of unnamed Ministry of Defence officials for not caring more for Dr Kelly after he had been revealed as the source of the BBC's claim that Downing Street had 'sexed up' their dossier on Iraq's WMD.
Mr Blair attracts no criticism from the Judge, neither does the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, nor the top civil servant in the Defence Department, Kevin Tebbit. So in short, the Prime Minister did not lie. The BBC however did broadcast a lie, according to Hutton and fell down on its management systems. Hutton's findings damn the BBC, it will be a very difficult time for them.
In the end there is a culture clash surrounding this report. Whenever there is doubt involving the Government Lord Hutton determines that Government acts with integrity, journalists tend to regard the Government with scepticism. The true case for war has still not been inquired into nor the failure of the intelligence services. Though David Kay, who resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group only last week is giving evidence in Washington this afternoon. We'll see what he has to say.
Whatever, the likelihood is that the BBC and its fate will now come to dominate the debate rather than the issues surrounding the war. As regards the BBC, whatever mistakes were made, Government clashes with the state broadcaster are dangerous, there are implications for every journalist. This is very dicey territory. We could find that the death of David Kelly ends up robbing Britain of the best public service broadcaster in the world. To the great joy of several newspaper magnates and their empires.
More at: Channel 4 News
This is one of the most worrying and difficult days of my broadcasting career. I hope we rise to the occasion. We shall be trying at seven.
Hope to see you then
I wish you well,
Jon Snow
