Challenges and controversy
From the General Strike in 1926 to the Hutton Inquiry in 2003-4, the history of the BBC is littered with rows over editorial policy and standards that made headline news. Our experience of our own mistakes and of resisting external pressures in such episodes has helped not only to flesh out editorial guidelines – as in the case of Yesterday’s Men (1971) and the Carrickmore incident (1972) – but also to reinforce such values as the proper treatment of staff, as in the Mongoose case (1936).

Discover more about the following episodes in the BBC’s history:

The General Strike(1926)

The Hashagen Affair (1932)

The Vernon Bartlett Affair (1933)

The Citizen and His Government (1935)

The Mongoose Case (1936)

Party Manners (1950)

The Suez Crisis (1956)

Yesterday’s Men (1971)

The Carrickmore Incident (1979)

The Falklands Conflict (1982)

Real Lives (1985)

The Libyan Bombing (1986)

The Zircon Affair (1986-7)

Iraq, Gilligan, Kelly and Hutton (2003-4)

click here to switch background image off and on >>