Table of Contents
INTERVIEW
- When it first aired on November 20, 1995, the British media described the interview of Princess Diana to the BBC as one that “plunged the monarchy into the greatest crisis since the Abdication”, referring to King Edward VIII abandoning his throne in 1936 to marry an American divorcee.
- The princess of Wales’ first solo interview, in which she bared her heart about her marriage and relationship with the royal family, was watched by an estimated 23 million people and was called the ‘scoop of the century’.
Lessons from the past
- Twenty-five years later, the landmark interview, which aired on BBC’s Panorama programme, is under scrutiny as the journalist and interviewer, Martin Bashir, faces charges of having secured the interview through unethical means.
- On Wednesday, the BBC announced an investigation and promised to get to the truth about how it got the interview with Princess Diana.
What happened in the Panorama interview of 1995?
- The 55-minute session began with Bashir asking Diana how prepared she was for the pressures that came with marrying into the royal family. A strained-looking Diana, then 34-year-old, poured her heart out about the disappointments with her marriage.
What happened in the Panorama interview of 1995?
- “Well, there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” she had famously said in the interview with regard to Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, to which he had admitted publicly the previous year. In the interview she also admitted to having been unfaithful to Charles in a five-year long affair with cavalry officer James Hewitt.
What happened in the Panorama interview of 1995?
- Diana also spoke about having suffered from postnatal depression after the birth of Prince William, and that she even tried injuring herself during the period.
- She spoke at length about the impact that excessive media interest in everything she did had on her mental health and marriage, and how she was never given credit for anything good she did.
- At the time the interview was aired, the couple had already been living separately for three years.
What are the allegations against BBC regarding the Prince Diana interview?
- Fresh questions about how the interview was secured arose earlier this month when a two-part documentary aired on British network ITV claimed that Bashir had used dishonest tactics to persuade Diana into giving the interview.
- Diana feared she was being spied on by the MI5 and the fake bank statements, purportedly showing payments of £10,500 to the former head of security for Earl Spencer from a publisher, was aimed at exploiting these insecurities.
What are the allegations against BBC regarding the Prince Diana interview?
- Allegations of impropriety had arisen at the time of airing the interview itself, and Bashir had reportedly gone into hiding the weekend it was aired.
- The BBC carried out an investigation into the allegations in 1996 and Bashir was cleared of all charges by the then news chief, Tony Hall.
- Earlier this month, Diana’s brother wrote a letter to Tim Davie, the current director-general of the BBC, asking for an independent inquiry.
What are the allegations against BBC regarding the Prince Diana interview?
- Following the allegations, Davie said, “The BBC is determined to get to the truth about these events and that is why we have commissioned an independent investigation.”
- The investigation would seek to answer questions on what steps the BBC and Bashir took to obtain the interview and whether they were in line with the BBC’s editorial standards of the time, to what extent did the actions of Bashir influence Diana’s decision, what knowledge did the BBC have in 1995 and 1996 about the forged bank statements and how effectively had the BBC investigated the circumstances leading to the interview.
- Bashir (57) is currently the religion editor of BBC news.
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