BBC chiefs last night promised ‘an impartiality revolution’ after a storm over bias and the Martin Bashir scandal culminated in warnings that the corporation might not even exist in a decade.
A hard-hitting report yesterday revealed a continuing ‘culture of defensiveness’ at the BBC and accusations of ‘groupthink’.
It comes days after new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries openly questioned the ‘elitist’ and ‘snobbish’ broadcaster’s future.
Bosses have now announced a major ‘action plan’ under which anyone who breaches its standards could face the sack ‘regardless of seniority, profile or role’.
BBC chiefs last night promised to combat bias after a hard-hitting report yesterday revealed accusations of 'groupthink' in the wake of the cover-up over the Martin Bashir scandal. Pictured: Princess Diana's sensational 1995 Panorama interview
The move follows the furore over the Bashir scandal. Despite duping Earl Spencer in a bid to secure a sensational 1995 Panorama interview with his sister Princess Diana, the ‘rogue reporter’ was protected by a cover-up and later rehired as the corporation’s religion editor.
Yesterday, BBC chairman Richard Sharp told the Daily Mail the new action plan amounts to an ‘impartiality revolution’ which will benefit both the corporation’s 21,500 employees and its millions of viewers.
Mr Sharp said: ‘This is a chance for the BBC to be what it always aspires to be from its original charter: fair, authoritative and impartial.’
The BBC accepted the report of its practices by Arts Council England chairman Sir Nicholas Serota.
The corporation has now unveiled its ‘biggest and most significant push’ to ensure its content is fair, accurate and unbiased.
It released a ten-point action plan in response to the Serota report, which includes extending impartiality training throughout the organisation. It also recommends the BBC’s board monitors impartiality through metrics including editorial complaints.
BBC chairman Richard Sharp (pictured) told the Daily Mail the new action plan amounts to an ‘impartiality revolution’ which will benefit the corporation’s 21,500 employees and viewers
Managers should also be ‘challenged to represent audiences from all parts of the UK, both on and off screen’ as part of a diversity plan, it added. Last night Government sources stressed Mrs Dorries was ‘withholding judgment’ on whether BBC bosses would rise to the challenges she had set them in order to ‘rebuild trust’.
Privately, some in Government have noted that bosses look like they’re genuinely trying to address the BBC’s long-standing problems, the source said.
They added: ‘But of course we’ll have to wait and see where these
