Posted on 08/16/2003 10:01:05 AM PDT by knighthawk
The reputation of BBC journalism, already under the spotlight at the Hutton Inquiry, faces another test after one of its senior correspondents announced he was taking legal action against an American magazine.
Tom Mangold said he was "issuing legal proceedings" against Newsweek after it alleged that his exclusive report on tthe arrest of a British-Indian businessman for attempting to sell missiles to Islamic terrorists had "blown" a major intelligence operation.
Mangold has instructed the solicitors Mischcon de Reya to write to the magazine which claimed that his report on the arrest of Hemant Lakhani had forced the FBI to "abort its plan to recruit [him] as an informant".
The BBC and Mangold dispute Newsweek's allegations which are said to have come from senior officials in the US Justice Department. US attorneys in New Jersey - where Lakhani, 68, appeared in court on Wednesday - also denied the magazine's claims.
Mangold said he was sticking by his report that Lakhani was involved in a plot to shoot down the presidential airliner.
FBI accuses BBC of wrecking operation to infiltrate al-Qaida
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