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The BBC has pledged to conduct a fully independent investigation into how Martin Bashir got his career-defining interview with Princess Diana in 1995, following new claims that he produced fake documents and used other deceptive tactics to win the trust of his family.
Tim Davie, the company’s CEO, confirmed that the terms of the investigation would be announced in the coming days: “The BBC is taking this very seriously and we want to get to the truth. We are in the process of commissioning a solid and independent investigation. “
The BBC said Bashir is currently unable to answer questions as he is currently fired by his doctors. He said the reporter, currently employed as the BBC’s religious editor, is recovering from quadruple heart bypass surgery as well as having “significant complications” after contracting Covid-19 earlier this year.
The announcement follows weeks of campaigning by Diana’s brother Earl Spencer, who claims that Bashir repeatedly tricked him into gaining access to the royal family as his marriage to Prince Charles collapsed. The subsequent interview made headlines around the world and gave a turbulent boost to Bashir’s career, which garnered praise for a major journalistic scoop.
The BBC announcement comes as ITV prepares to air an interview with Matt Wiessler, a graphic designer Bashir asked to simulate the fake bank statements that allegedly helped the reporter secure his decisive interview.
The fake documents gave the impression that royal family members were selling stories to newspapers, with Spencer saying this and other deceptions were the reason he introduced Bashir – then a relatively obscure Panorama reporter – to his sister.
The matter was investigated at the time, with former BBC news chief Tony Hall clearing Bashir of wrongdoing in 1996, while telling the board of the company that the graphic designer who followed Bashir’s orders “will no longer work for. the BBC “.
Wiessler subsequently left the media and now works for a bicycle design company in Devon. At the same time Bashir continued to have a successful journalistic career around the world, while Hall returned to the BBC as general manager.
The graphic designer told ITV documentary The Diana Interview: Revenge Of A Princess that he was created to be the “scapegoat” for Bashir’s actions: “I’m this guy who is remembered for forging the document and I want to delete the My name I got a call from Martin Bashir and he wanted me to do him a favor and it was really urgent and very important.
“Martin asked me to prepare a couple of bank statements about people being paid to do the surveillance he needed the next day. And he said they would only be used as copies … I had never been informed like that before. “
Wiessler said he later worried about what he was asked to do. The situation worsened when he returned home and found that his apartment had been burgled, but only two computer disks had been taken: “I was absolutely out of my mind … I searched through my computer files in the office and couldn’t to find none of the backups I had made of the statements, which I had created for Martin.
He added: “I got quite paranoid, because I thought there must be more to this affirmation story than I can ever dream of. Why, why would it happen? Why would anyone enter? And I haven’t received clear answers from anyone. I had never broken in before in my life. And I just thought someone was texting me or something. “
Wiessler also recalled meeting Bashir when the story of the fake bank statements was first reported 25 years: “… all he could think of doing was saying to me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t go to the media. . Keep talking to us. We’re not doing anything … We didn’t do anything wrong. You have to trust us on this. I walked out of that restaurant, knowing I had to go to the media. Because Martin was just in this case, covering himself up. alone. “
He said the incident had shaken his confidence in society: “Almost naively, I thought that when you worked for the BBC, you worked for the good of everything. After this episode, almost everything disappeared, and I thought that this what really matters is the senior management, senior producers and presenters who protect themselves at all costs.
“I felt quite clearly that I was the one who would be the scapegoat in this story. All I want is for the BBC to step up in this case and honestly apologize. Because it had a huge impact. “
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