Hutton is our Jayson Blair, says BBC news chief

Guardian ^ | 02/12/04 | Claire Cozens

[Pikamax]

Hutton is our Jayson Blair, says BBC news chief

Click here to read Sambrook's email to BBC news staff

Claire Cozens Thursday February 12, 2004

The BBC director of news, Richard Sambrook, has compared the Hutton crisis to the fallout at the New York Times over rogue reporter Jayson Blair and the Times' Hitler diaries as the corporation works to repair its reputation in the wake of the scandal.

Mr Sambrook, who is himself under investigation over his handling of former BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan's hugely controversial Today programme story, admitted the BBC had made a "big and high profile mistake" as he compared it to some of the biggest journalistic blunders of recent years.

But he said the important thing was for the BBC to learn from its mistakes and become more "open" to concerns about its programmes.

"The Times and the Hitler Diaries, CNN and the Tailwind investigation, the New York Times and Jayson Blair. Every so often a major news organisation makes a big and high profile mistake. None of us is immune. However what really matters is what happens next. How does the organisation react, what does it put in place how does it learn from its mistakes?" he wrote in an email to staff.

Mr Sambrook revealed he was planning changes to "increase the accountability and openness of BBC News".

And he admitted the BBC was an "inward-looking organisation" that had failed to pay sufficient attention to concerns about its programmes and news coverage.

"We talk a lot about audiences but we are still a very inward looking organisation," he wrote.

"Audience focus isn't just about trying to understand what they like to watch or listen to or read. It's also about a genuine openness to their concerns about our programmes and about our coverage. Open mindedness and self questioning are at the heart of strong journalism. We have a long way to go to be a genuinely open organisation - but we need to start and will be the stronger for it."

Mr Sambrook reassured staff that the BBC would "continue to do bold and brave journalism" in the wake of comments by acting director general Mark Byford last week about the undesirability of "exclusives" on the BBC's channels.

But he said being original and distinctive was not just about scoops, indicating the BBC had a duty to cover stories from areas other broadcasters would not cover.

"It is also about the ground-breaking interview, specialist analysis and bringing in stories from Britain and around the world that other broadcasters don't cover. Our audiences value those qualities highly and they also define what's best about our journalism," he continued.

The New York Times was last year plunged into its worst crisis of its 152-year history after it emerged that a junior reporter, Jayson Blair, had invented large numbers of stories published in the newspaper.

In 1983 the Times fell victim to an elaborate hoax when it bought what it believed to be Hitler's diaries.

The Sunday Times was about to begin serialising the diaries and the Times had already carried an article endorsing their authenticity before discovered the "diaries" were forged.

And in 1998 CNN retracted accusations that US special forces used the nerve gas sarin during the Operation Tailwind mission to kill US Vietnam war defectors hiding in Laos in 1970, saying there had been "serious faults in the use of sources".

Two reporters were sacked over the debacle, and it also led to the departure of CNN's most celebrated reporter, Peter Arnett, who fronted the report.

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[1rudeboy]

I don't have the time to read this, but the title alone is worth a bump.

[gr8eman]

Every so often a major news organisation makes a big and high profile mistake.

There was no mistaking their backing of Little Buddy to the hilt although the Skipper and Professor had the goods on him, i.e. the truth. When liberals get caught in lies it is a "Mistake"...not a lie! Amazing...