Wednesday 28 January 2009

BBC not 'brave' in covering Iraq war ever since Hutton Report claims Greg Dyke

Former BBC director-general Greg Dyke said today that the highly critical Hutton Report and the legacy of the row over Andrew Gilligan's "sexed-up" dossier allegations has influenced the BBC's reporting of the war in Iraq.
Asked by presenter Steve Hewlett on today's BBC Radio 4's Media Show about the long term impact on the BBC of Hutton, published five years ago today, Dyke said:"On Iraq I don't think the BBC has been brave since then."
Dyke, who lost his job as a result of the dossier affair, also said: "I think when you look back now, I think although there were odd mistakes, the central thrust of what Gilligan said was true."
He said the fire turned on the BBC was a "trick" by Alastair Campbell to try and save his own job and because Campbell disliked the BBC because "it was one of the few bits of the media he couldn't control."

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