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The BBC’s “interview of the century” with Princess Diana 25 years ago generates a new controversy.
The BBC announced that it intends to conduct an internal investigation to determine whether the reporter who conducted the interview, Martin Bashin, acted maliciously so that the then wife of Prince Charles of England agreed to speak in front of the cameras.
The interview, which aired in November 1995, was seen by over 20 million Brits and was considered the “first of the century”as many reporters had unsuccessfully attempted to interview Diana of Wales.
It was in it that Diana revealed why she had separated from Prince Charles, a major scandal involving the British royal family.
“There were three of us in that marriage,” Diana said on camera, referring to her husband’s relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, who is now married to Carlos.
Diana also admitted that she had a lover while she was married.
Last week the British newspaper Daily mail posted an interview with Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, who introduced the journalist Martin Bashir to the princess at the time, making it easy for her to get the famous interview.
Spencer ensures that Bashir managed to win his confidence and of Diana making him believe there was a file conspiracy of the royal family against the princess.
However, second Daily mail, the claims made by Bashir were lies created by the journalist with the intention of gaining trust of the princess and who granted him the exclusive interview.
What evidence did they present?
Diana’s brother makes his accusation based on notes he took from a meeting with Bashir three months prior to the interview.
The BBC reporter allegedly listed a number of allegations on a alleged secret surveillance network. He would also make sure that the princess’s correspondence had been hacked, that her car was being tracked, and that her phone had been tapped.
He was also told that a watch belonging to his son, Prince William, had a device capable of recording conversations. According to the Daily Mail report, this and other “extraordinary” reports were considered “fanciful” by Spencer, who became suspicious of Bashir.
The reporter also presented Bank statements of people who worked for the royal family. However, these documents had been counterfeited by a designer graphic, at the request of the BBC journalist.
Bashir allegedly told Diana’s brother that these excerpts showed people close to the princess were receiving money from British intelligence, presumably in exchange for inside information about Diana.
However, Diana and Bashir had already met and Bashir gained the princess’s attention, according to her brother.
The BBC, which had previously conducted an investigation into the matter and acquitted the journalist in the 1990s, has now pledged to conduct another investigation.
A key part of the original investigation, which aimed to determine whether Diana had been persuaded to grant the interview through false premises, was a handwritten statement of the princess in which claimed not to have seen excerpts banking counterfeiting and that they played no part in their decision to participate in the interview.
In a statement, the BBC said that “sadly, we are limited by the fact that we cannot discuss any of this with Martin Bashir, who is seriously ill. When he recovers, we will certainly investigate these matters.”
Martin Bashir is now the BBC’s religious correspondent. You are on sick leave, as you have suffered complications from heart surgery and also from covid-19, which he contracted earlier this year.
According to Diana’s brother, Bashir’s forged bank statements were instrumental in his decision to introduce Diana to him.
BBC Royal Household correspondent Jonny Dymond said he saw Charles Spencer’s notes on the case.
They appear to record Bashir telling “lies and other lies about members of the royal family and their team, in an attempt, according to Spencer, to gain their trust and that of his sister Diana”.
Bashir also accused the princess’s bodyguard of plotting against her and her closest friends of leaking stories to the press.
The 1995 interview with Diana on the BBC’s Panorama program was one of the most relevant in British television history and exacerbated the dispute between the princess and the royal family.
At the moment, Princess Diana Yup she was separated from Prince Charles, but had not yet divorced.
An internal investigation in 1996 by then BBC News director (and future CEO) Tony Hall, only now revealed to the public thanks to access to information laws, showed that the BBC concluded at the time thatMartin Bashir was “an honest man”.
That same investigation ended with the graphic designer being fired Matt Wiessler, who created the fake bank statements.
However, Wiessler claims to have made the excerpts at Bashir’s request. without knowing what they would be forand that he realized the link between the interview and his work only after the speech was broadcast.
“It’s kind of like blaming the pen for writing a bad letter. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the post through access to the information law. I was absolutely shocked that at a board meeting [de la BBC] summoned to find out what Martin had done, I became a scapegoat, “Wiessler said in an interview this week for the BBC.
“I don’t know how you can tell a story where a graphic designer takes the blame for using copied documents as fakes. I’ve lived with it for 25 years“.
Diana’s brother Charles Spencer says the forged documents were key to securing the interview with her sister and that without them the princess would not have been on the BBC program.
The BBC has apologized for the fake bank statements, but insists it “played no part in their decision. [de Diana] to participate in the interview. “
Under scrutiny
From the revelations of Daily mailIn addition to a documentary on Channel 4 television, the BBC was targeted.
Charles Spencer says the 1996 investigation by then company news director Tony Hall was done only to cover up the culprits.
The graph says the BBC investigation ruined his career.
“Let them look at the damage he did and certainly publicly apologize. My children know that people call me a counterfeiter. I was a renowned graphic designer.”
When asked why he hadn’t talked about it earlier, he replied, “Because I’m nobody. Who should I talk to? I had to do something to reinvent myself, start a new life. I moved 250 miles. [400 km] From London. It also affected my self-esteem. “
The current CEO of the BBC, Tim Davie – who took office this year – he said on Monday thecorporation se is taking the case “very seriously” and this the he will investigate everything until the truth is discovered.
“We are in the process of ordering a solid and independent investigation,” he said.
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