Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> Hutton - is it a whitewash? http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1075361491 Message started by Forum Admin on Jan 29^th, 2004, 7:32am

Title: Hutton - is it a whitewash?
Post by Forum Admin on Jan 29^th, 2004, 7:32am

Boris Johnson says:
"Blair, Hoon, Scarlett, the whole lot of them, have been sprayed with more whitewash than a Costa Brava timeshare. Hutton has succumbed to blindness of Nelsonian proportions. As snow-jobs go, this beats the Himalayas."
What do you think?

Title: Re: Hutton - is it a whitewash?
Post by Alan_Ashton on Jan 29^th, 2004, 3:19pm

I was spitting blood yesterday when I heard the BBC crucified and the MOD etc. getting off Scot free (or in this case Hutton free).
The BBC did make mistakes, i.e. broadcasting an erroneous two-wayer, letting Gilligan follow up in a national newspaper and then not investigating his facts thoroughly.
But the inquiry was into the death of Dr. Kelly. The BBCdid not throw him to the wolves of the MPs select Committee or allow the media to identify him by a processs of elimination.
I am convinced that these two facts had more influence on his death than anything the BBC did.
At the same time, I remember having a dodgy tape about Jeremy Thorpe when I was overnight editor on the Today programme. Peter Woon, then ENCA, got me to play it to the then DG, Ian Trethowan, whose office note was adjacent to the Today suite. He didn't think the tape should go out, but did not veto it. ENCA wanted me to use it and suggested I rang the editor, Ken Goudie. I declined as I knew Ken would agree with me so the tape was binned.
Note at that time, there was only two people - the editor and ENCA between me and the DG.
Apparently now, according to an overnight editor, there is "at least seven".
There is a moral there somewhere.......