The
Hutton Report - BBC statement
Dr
Kelly's death was a tragedy for his family and, again, we offer
our sincere condolences to them.
We
note Lord Hutton's criticisms of the BBC. Many of these relate to
mistakes which the BBC has already acknowledged in its submissions
to the Inquiry and for which we have already expressed regret.
Thanks
to the process of Lord Hutton's Inquiry we now know more about the
evolution of the September dossier. The BBC does accept that certain
key allegations reported by Andrew Gilligan on the Today programme
on May 29 last year were wrong and we apologise for them.
However,
we would point out again that at no stage in the last eight months
have we accused the Prime Minister of lying and have said this publicly
on several occasions.
The
dossier raised issues of great public interest. Dr Kelly was a credible
source. Provided his allegations were reported accurately, the public
in a modern democracy had a right to be made aware of them. The
greater part of the BBC's coverage of the dossier fulfilled this
purpose.
We've
already taken steps to improve our procedures. A new Complaints
and Compliance structure has been put in place, under the Deputy
Director-General. We have a new set of rules for BBC journalists
who wish to write for newspapers or magazines and we will be publishing
revised editorial guidelines.
There
are other findings in the Report, including those about the dossier,
which we will consider carefully.
The
BBC Governors will be meeting formally tomorrow and will give further
consideration to Lord Hutton's Report. No further comment will be
made until after that meeting.
Other
statements
Resignation
statement by Gavyn Davies
The
Hutton Report - Gavyn Davies statement
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