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Statement
from Gavyn Davies, Chairman of the BBC
"The
BBC Board of Governors met this evening [Sunday 6 July 2003] to
discuss the allegations made by Alastair Campbell against the BBC's
overall coverage of the Iraq war, and its specific coverage of the
September intelligence dossier by Andrew Gilligan in the Today programme.
"The
Governors questioned Greg Dyke, the Director-General, and Richard
Sambrook, the Director of News, about Mr Campbell's allegations.
The Board reached the following conclusions.
"First,
the Board reiterates that the BBC's overall coverage of the war,
and the political issues surrounding it, has been entirely impartial,
and it emphatically rejects Mr Campbell's claim that large parts
of the BBC had an agenda against the war.
"We
call on Mr Campbell to withdraw these allegations of bias against
the BBC and its journalists.
"Second,
the Board considers that the Today programme properly followed the
BBC's Producers' Guidelines in its handling of the Andrew Gilligan
report about the September intelligence dossier, which was broadcast
on 29 May.
"Although
the Guidelines say that the BBC should be reluctant to broadcast
stories based on a single source, and warn about the dangers of
using anonymous sources, they clearly allow for this to be done
in exceptional circumstances. Stories based on senior intelligence
sources are a case in point.
"We
note that an entirely separate story was broadcast by an unconnected
BBC journalist on Newsnight on 2 June. This story reported very
similar allegations to those reported by Andrew Gilligan on the
Today programme, but the story has not been singled out for similar
criticism by government spokesmen.
"Moreover,
as these reports fitted in to a general pattern of concern, conveyed
to a number of BBC journalists with good contacts in the security
services, we consider that it was entirely proper to reflect some
unease about the presentation of the Government's arguments in the
disputed dossiers.
"The
Board is satisfied that it was in the public interest to broadcast
Mr Gilligan's story, given the information which was available to
BBC News at the time. We believe it would not have been in the public
interest to have suppressed the stories on either the Today programme
or Newsnight.
"Third,
the Board considers that the Today programme should have kept a
clearer account of its dealings with the Ministry of Defence on
this story and could have also asked the No 10 Press Office for
a response prior to broadcasting the story.
"However,
we note that firm government denials of the story were broadcast
on the Today Programme within 90 minutes of the original broadcast
by Andrew Gilligan, and these were followed soon after on the same
programme by equally firm denials by a defence minister.
"Fourth,
the Board intends to look again at the rules under which BBC reporters
and presenters are permitted to write for newspapers, once it has
received recommendations from the Director of News. This examination
will be conducted during the summer.
"Finally,
the Board wishes to place on record that the BBC has never accused
the Prime Minister of lying, or of seeking to take Britain into
war under misleading or false pretences.
"The
BBC did not have an agenda in its war coverage, nor does it now
have any agenda which questions the integrity of the Prime Minister.
"In
summary, the Governors are ultimately responsible for ensuring that
the BBC upholds the highest standards of impartiality and accuracy.
We are wholly satisfied that BBC journalists and their managers
sought to maintain impartiality and accuracy during this episode."
Notes
to Editors
Letter
from Stephen Whittle, Controller, Editorial Policy, BBC to Ben Bradshaw
MP (03.07.03)
Letter
from Richard Sambrook, Director BBC News, to Ben Bradshaw MP
(29.06.03)
Letter
from Andrew Gilligan, Today programme Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent,
to Phil Woolas, Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (28.06.03)
Letter
from Richard Sambrook, Director, BBC News to Alastair Campbell
(27.06.03)
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