Friday, January 30, 2004
Greg has resigned and it feels as though the BBC will never be the same. I was outside Broadcasting House yesterday as the DG came out to announce to the press that he was leaving the BBC. Later I was at Television Centre where 400 or more staff had gathered outside in protest at Greg's departure. Greg took a car to TVC to bid farewell to the staff, many of whom were gathered around the entrance. I met my son, Wesley, in reception. He had just arrived for his overnight shift with Radio 5 Live. He sent me a text a little later. Greg was in the newsroom and had just been through his office saying his goodbye's and urging staff to maintain the BBC's journalistic standards.
I will miss Greg's leadership - I shall miss Greg as a person. Before he took up his post he toured a number of radio stations in the regions. He sat in my office in York and we talked about local radio in the BBC. He listened and after that he remembered me whenever we met. His effect on the BBC was incredible. We became the market leaders and started to take bold and risky decisions, expecting to succeed. Tedious bureacracies were swept aside and programmes became king. Today is a sad day for all who work for the corporation.
I still feel angry that this is the result of a flawed judicial inquiry into one story that touched a raw nerve in Downing Street. We dented Alastair Campbell's ego and as a result and out of all proportion paid the price, losing a much respected director general.
I know Mark Byford who's acting DG now. He will do a good job. He has the potential to inspire as well as lead, but he takes up the reins at a very difficult time. The governors appear to have capitulated to the demands of the Prime Minister and Mark will need to restore the confidence of both the staff and the public in our journalistic independence. It's a tough call but I'm glad it's Mark. When he was appointed as Greg's deputy I sent him my congratulations in an email. I suggested that in his new post he would need our prayers. Now he needs them even more.
Guardian Leader - Decapitation
I will miss Greg's leadership - I shall miss Greg as a person. Before he took up his post he toured a number of radio stations in the regions. He sat in my office in York and we talked about local radio in the BBC. He listened and after that he remembered me whenever we met. His effect on the BBC was incredible. We became the market leaders and started to take bold and risky decisions, expecting to succeed. Tedious bureacracies were swept aside and programmes became king. Today is a sad day for all who work for the corporation.
I still feel angry that this is the result of a flawed judicial inquiry into one story that touched a raw nerve in Downing Street. We dented Alastair Campbell's ego and as a result and out of all proportion paid the price, losing a much respected director general.
I know Mark Byford who's acting DG now. He will do a good job. He has the potential to inspire as well as lead, but he takes up the reins at a very difficult time. The governors appear to have capitulated to the demands of the Prime Minister and Mark will need to restore the confidence of both the staff and the public in our journalistic independence. It's a tough call but I'm glad it's Mark. When he was appointed as Greg's deputy I sent him my congratulations in an email. I suggested that in his new post he would need our prayers. Now he needs them even more.
Guardian Leader - Decapitation
Thursday, January 29, 2004
The Hutton Report is out - yesterday the Law Lord delivered his judgment on the death of Dr David Kelly - exonerating Downing Street and rounding on the BBC. No one except Dr Kelly was blamed for his death - he committed suicide. The shock in this report for me is the way that nothing was laid at the door of the government while the BBC was delivered stinging criticism.
As a BBC employee I feel a deep sense of unfairness. As a journalist I feel a deep sense of foreboding. The BBC upholds some of the highest standards of journalism. You would think from the Hutton report that the BBC had done nothing to investigate the truth of Andrew Gilligan's report about the government's part in producing a dossier about the alleged threat from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But the investigation did happen and hours were spent behind closed doors agonising over the BBC's response. What the BBC did, which Hutton didn't do, was to look at the wider picture. By the time the offending report was broadcast in May 2003 it had become clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that the dossier contained false information. So it was right to investigate how it came about. Gilligan's report was in the public interest. It conveyed something of what was going on inside the intelligence service and it also took an informed guess as to how the false information came to be in the dossier. Lord Hutton confined himself only to the part the government played in compiling the dossier and how David Kelly was identified as the source of Andrew Gilligan's story.
So the BBC, in doing its public duty after the event of war, is condemned, while the government, which clearly got it wrong on the subject of WMD, is cleared of all guilt. Alastair Campbell made a huge fuss over just one report because the government was about to be exposed for misleading the country over the reasons for going to war against Iraq. As a result Dr David Kelly was exposed as the source and ultimately committed suicide. The Hutton Inquiry was instigated and focused on just one broadcast - a two way at 6.07am. The wider issue and governments part in it was ignored.
So where is the justice? Where is the recognition of how difficult it is for journalists to do their public duty? Where is the honour and who will restore it? Broadcast journalists are overwhelming non political - unlike newspaper editors who can, and usually do, choose a political stance. Further to that there's no commercial pressure on the BBC. The only pressures on the BBC are from it's licence fee payers - the public -and the government because they ultimately determine the future of the corporation through the charter renewal process.
Hutton was about one report and subsequent investigation. You would think there had been a root and branch review of all aspects of its operation from the utter condemnation that has been levelled against the BBC. Both the government and particularly Downing Street, and the BBC had their inner workings exposed as the Hutton Inquiry cross examined witnesses from both sides. Everyone who listened to the evidence saw flaws on both sides. Lord Hutton chose only to report the flaws of the BBC. Because of this Lord Hutton's report is a whitewash. The question remains. Why?
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Crisis cuts through the BBC
As a BBC employee I feel a deep sense of unfairness. As a journalist I feel a deep sense of foreboding. The BBC upholds some of the highest standards of journalism. You would think from the Hutton report that the BBC had done nothing to investigate the truth of Andrew Gilligan's report about the government's part in producing a dossier about the alleged threat from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But the investigation did happen and hours were spent behind closed doors agonising over the BBC's response. What the BBC did, which Hutton didn't do, was to look at the wider picture. By the time the offending report was broadcast in May 2003 it had become clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that the dossier contained false information. So it was right to investigate how it came about. Gilligan's report was in the public interest. It conveyed something of what was going on inside the intelligence service and it also took an informed guess as to how the false information came to be in the dossier. Lord Hutton confined himself only to the part the government played in compiling the dossier and how David Kelly was identified as the source of Andrew Gilligan's story.
So the BBC, in doing its public duty after the event of war, is condemned, while the government, which clearly got it wrong on the subject of WMD, is cleared of all guilt. Alastair Campbell made a huge fuss over just one report because the government was about to be exposed for misleading the country over the reasons for going to war against Iraq. As a result Dr David Kelly was exposed as the source and ultimately committed suicide. The Hutton Inquiry was instigated and focused on just one broadcast - a two way at 6.07am. The wider issue and governments part in it was ignored.
So where is the justice? Where is the recognition of how difficult it is for journalists to do their public duty? Where is the honour and who will restore it? Broadcast journalists are overwhelming non political - unlike newspaper editors who can, and usually do, choose a political stance. Further to that there's no commercial pressure on the BBC. The only pressures on the BBC are from it's licence fee payers - the public -and the government because they ultimately determine the future of the corporation through the charter renewal process.
Hutton was about one report and subsequent investigation. You would think there had been a root and branch review of all aspects of its operation from the utter condemnation that has been levelled against the BBC. Both the government and particularly Downing Street, and the BBC had their inner workings exposed as the Hutton Inquiry cross examined witnesses from both sides. Everyone who listened to the evidence saw flaws on both sides. Lord Hutton chose only to report the flaws of the BBC. Because of this Lord Hutton's report is a whitewash. The question remains. Why?
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Crisis cuts through the BBC
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
