BBC reporter asks for an interview after showing fake documents for a scoop
BBC apologizes to Dianas secretary and pays damages BBC / Photo = Yonhap News
British public broadcaster the BBC has apologized to Dianas secretary in connection with a past fraudulent interview and paid substantial damages.
The BBC said on the 17th that it had apologized for the damage suffered to Dianas ex-secretary Patrick Jeffson as a result of the 1995 BBC program Panorama Interview, which was allegedly carried out by Martin Bashir.
Jeffson said he plans to donate the money to a childrens hospice in honor of Diana. He said he was relieved that, after more than 25 years, this painful story has finally come to a conclusion.
The BBC commissioned retired Supreme Court Justice Sir John Dyson to investigate after publicly raising questions about Dianas brother, Earl Charles Spencer, and the background to the interview.
Earlier in May, the BBC issued an official apology for the interview with Princess Diana, which was reported 25 years ago. This comes after investigations revealed that a BBC reporter at the time had shown fake papers to get a scoop and forced Princess Diana to be interviewed.
The interview in question is the first interview with Princess Diana revealing the affair of Prince Charles when she appeared on the BBC at 8:00 pm on October 20, 1995. Princess Diana, she said at the time, said that her marriage to Prince Charles at the time had always felt like three people. She admitted that he had had an extramarital affair with her equestrian instructor, James Hewitt, too, and was candid about her own bulimia and even depression. The interview was so sensational that about 23 million people out of the then 58 million UK population watched it live.
Princess Diana, whom she interviewed without prior consultation with the royal family, divorced Prince Charles the following year, and she died in August 1997 in a car accident while avoiding the paparazzi.
The BBCs president, Richard Sharp, said he fully accepted the findings of the report, saying the BBC had made an “unacceptable” error. We said we would not avoid this historical truth.
