MPs to hold BBC Dyson Report hearing
May 25, 2021
By Colin Mann
Following a private meeting of the UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Chair Julian Knight has confirmed that it will hold an evidence session to examine questions raised by the report from Lord Dyson investigating the circumstances around the 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.
The session, which is expected to be held in June, will consider wider issues such as evidence of change in how the BBC operates since the Panorama interview, and will inquire further into the BBC’s own internal investigation.
The Committee will invite senior BBC management and is considering seeking evidence from other parties involved in events around the programme and BBC’s internal inquiry into it.
“We believe the BBC has further questions to answer following last week’s report by Lord Dyson and further speculation in the media over the weekend, including views expressed by Martin Bashir himself,” said Knight. “We want to speak to those who were involved at the time and in the years that followed the screening of this programme which continues to create headlines more than 25 years on.”
“Scrutiny of the BBC has never come at a more critical time for the broadcaster and we will play our part in this in order to examine events and processes, crucial to retaining audiences’ trust in the BBC,” he added.
The Committee wrote to BBC Director-General Tim Davie on May 21st to ask why Bashir was rehired by the BBC in 2016.