Category Archives: BBC

Banned BBC journalist says Russia ‘moving in reverse’ in final report

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Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford told by officials that her visa would not be renewed

The BBC’s Moscow correspondent has used her final dispatch before her expulsion from Russia by the Kremlin to warn that the country was “moving in reverse” when it came to free speech and press freedoms.

Sarah Rainsford recorded the moments after she was pulled aside by authorities at the airport on a return trip to Moscow and informed that Russia’s FSB security service had banned her for life from the country.

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BBC inquiry dismisses Rupert Murdoch complaints about documentary series

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Complaints unit backs makers of Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, except over section on Tory ‘sleaze’ stories

Rupert Murdoch has largely lost a year-long dispute with the BBC after he objected to a documentary series that “implied he posed a threat to liberal democracy”.

Murdoch’s News UK business complained that a BBC Two documentary unfairly suggested the Australian-born media mogul “exercised malign political influence” through his ownership of news outlets. It said the BBC programme was biased and failed to give enough weight to more positive appraisals of Murdoch’s career.

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‘I’m not a news robot reading an Autocue’: Clive Myrie on politics, personality and Mastermind

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The BBC newsreader takes over the venerable quiz show next week. He discusses fighting for viewers, dealing with online abuse – and making his parents proud

There is one correct way to start an interview with the new host of Mastermind: turn the tables on him – put him in the chair, under the spotlight. He hasn’t prepared a specialist subject, though, so I pick one for him, an easy one: the life and work of Clive Myrie, gleaned from previous interviews and the internet. There may be errors, but I can accept only the answer on the card. It will lead to topics for discussion. He is up for it, he says, although his face says: “WTF?”

The setting – a meeting room at the BBC’s New Broadcasting House – isn’t perfect. The lighting is all wrong. There are chairs, but not the chair. At least I can play the theme on my phone. Bam baba bam, bam baba bam, da da …

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Expulsions lead BBC to fear for reporters in authoritarian regimes

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Broadcaster says relations with China and Russia are fraught as its correspondent Sarah Rainsford is forced out of Moscow

BBC news executives vowed on Saturday night to continue to report from Russia and China despite growing fears that both countries are becoming increasingly difficult to cover.

After a surprise Russian move last week that will force correspondent Sarah Rainsford permanently out of Moscow at the end of the month, a senior figure in BBC news said that Russia’s decision not to renew her visa marks a new low in relations. “Efforts are being made to keep communications open but the feeling is that Sarah is sadly right when she says she doesn’t see Russia changing its mind,” he said.

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Strictly Come Dancing 2021: the contestants – ranked

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Robert Webb, AJ Odudu, Tom Fletcher and Nina Wadia are among the celebrities getting their dancing shoes on for Strictly. But who will succeed … and who on earth is Tilly Ramsay?

The 2021 Strictly Come Dancing line-up has been unveiled in full, which can only mean one thing. It’s Christmas already. Merry Christmas everyone!

But who are these brave celebrities who have dared to develop a close friendship with a professional dancer that has a statistically high likelihood of ending their marriage? Below you will find them all, ranked from worst to best in terms of probable success.

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BBC condemns ‘assault on media freedom’ as Russia expels reporter

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State media call Sarah Rainsford’s expulsion a response to alleged UK barriers for Russian journalists

Russia is to expel a senior BBC journalist in Moscow by refusing to extend her accreditation in a move the broadcaster condemned as a “direct assault on media freedom”.

Sarah Rainsford’s visa is due to expire at the end of August and will not be renewed. The state broadcaster Rossiya-24 first reported the decision on Thursday evening, calling it a response to alleged UK refusals or delays in issuing visas to Russian journalists.

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Jimmy Savile: 10 years on, what has changed in uncovering abuse?

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As TV revisits the scandal, the author of an acclaimed play about it asks what the media and key institutions have learned – and whether survivors are now treated any better

Journalistic parlour game question: what are the most significant news stories of the past decade? Few would argue with the pandemic and Brexit. Not far behind, perhaps, is the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Not many stories change our world. This one did. It transformed how we deal with allegations of sexual assault. We reassessed our attitude to celebrity. We saw more clearly than ever how morally corrupt institutions could be. It was the harbinger of the #MeToo movement.

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BBC Olympics coverage misses events after loss of TV rights

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Viewers complain after rights-holder Discovery puts majority of events behind paywall

The BBC has faced a series of complaints about the lack of live Tokyo Olympics coverage on its channels, after viewers failed to realise the International Olympic Committee has sold the majority of UK television rights to pay-TV company Discovery.

During the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics the BBC was able to offer dozens of free livestreams of different sports, revolutionising how British viewers watched the games and providing much-needed publicity to niche events that would not normally have enjoyed their moment in the public eye.

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Sinéad O’Connor retracts retirement announcement

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The Irish musician said her statement, made on 5 June, was a ‘kneejerk reaction’ against the UK and Irish media’s ‘constant abuse and invalidation’ of her mental health

Sinéad O’Connor has retracted her announcement, made over the weekend, that she would retire from music and live performance.

In a new statement posted to Twitter, the Irish musician explained to fans that she had felt “badly triggered” by a series of interviews regarding her new memoir, Rememberings, in which she writes of surviving physical and psychological abuse.

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BBC interview did not harm Diana, claims Martin Bashir

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Journalist defends 1995 Panorama special saying he and Diana stayed friends after the broadcast

Martin Bashir has said he “never wanted to harm” Diana, Princess of Wales with the Panorama interview, adding: “I don’t believe we did.”

The journalist’s reputation is in tatters following Lord Dyson’s report that he used “deceitful behaviour” to land his world exclusive 1995 interview.

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Fears of ‘feeding frenzy’ against BBC after Diana interview backlash

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Ex-chair of BBC Trust warns criticism could lead to ‘destroying something it would be impossible to recreate’

A former chair of the BBC Trust has warned against the “feeding frenzy” engulfing the corporation as ministers said they would look at how it is governed in the wake of damning findings about its 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

As the broadcaster faced further searching questions over its handling of the crisis, Sir Michael Lyons, who chaired its then governing body from 2007 until 2011, said there was a danger of destroying something that “would be impossible to recreate”.

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Prince William as personal as the public has ever seen in Diana remarks

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Analysis: usually guarded Duke of Cambridge reveals pent-up fury as he comments on BBC’s handling of Panorama interview

He delivered it to camera in a calm and measured tone. But the Duke of Cambridge’s actual words had devastating impact and betrayed a fury pent up for a quarter of a century.

He spoke of “deceit” of “lurid and false” claims, of cover-ups, woeful incompetence and his “indescribable sadness” over Lord Dyson’s findings on the BBC’s handling of the now infamous Panorama interview.

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Government considers BBC shake-up after damning Diana report

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Ministers to mull governance overhaul after inquiry condemns Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview

Damning findings about Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, means the governance of the BBC and how it operates will have to be examined, according to a senior government minister.

The comments by the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, came as the Metropolitan police said they would “assess” the contents of John Dyson’s report “to ensure there is no significant new evidence”, after previously deciding not to begin a criminal investigation.

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Martin Bashir used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure Diana interview, report finds

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BBC chief Tim Davie apologises after investigation identified ‘clear failings’ in tactics used by journalist to secure interview

The BBC has been forced to make a humiliating apology after an investigation found that Martin Bashir used deceitful tactics that were later covered up by senior executives to secure his sensational 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

The inquiry, conducted by the former supreme court judge John Dyson, was withering of both Bashir and the corporation’s former director general, Tony Hall, who was accused of overseeing a flawed and “woefully ineffective” internal probe into the issue.

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Noel Clarke accused of sexual harassment on Doctor Who set

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Exclusive: BBC faces questions as further allegations made about Clarke – and co-star John Barrowman is accused of exposing himself

The Noel Clarke sexual harassment controversy threatens to embroil the BBC after several sources came forward to allege they were sexually harassed or inappropriately touched by the actor on a flagship show, Doctor Who.

Another Doctor Who actor, John Barrowman, has also been accused of repeatedly exposing himself to co-workers on two BBC productions, prompting questions about whether the corporation allowed a lax culture on its sets during the mid-2000s.

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Diana, Bashir, and that TV interview: now Panorama investigates itself

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Special programme investigates if the broadcaster ignored the way controversial reporter landed scoop

It was one of the most controversial and shattering TV programmes the BBC has ever broadcast. And early next month, the corporation is to return – in a Panorama special – to its 1995 interview with Princess Diana by the then little-known Martin Bashir.

Related: How did the Martin Bashir I knew become TV’s anti-hero?

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Can any fool read the news? Tim Dowling finds out

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The Autocue is loaded up to see if Jeremy Paxman was right to dismiss the art of TV newsreading

The words keep rising, white against a dark blue background, and I keep saying them, occasionally mispronouncing them. All the while I am conscious of the fact that somewhere behind the words there is a camera. Very soon I lose all sense of what I’m saying. I’m just reading on for dear life.

In March, Jeremy Paxman dismissed the art of newsreading as “an occupation for an articulated suit”, claiming that “any fool” could read an Autocue. Last week, the BBC presenter Reeta Chakrabarti took him to task. “I’ve written a lot of what I’m reading out,” she told the Radio Times. “Those aren’t someone else’s words.”

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Prince Philip: respect and restraint required after duke’s death | Letters

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Martin Buckley, Carl Gardner, Margaret Vandecasteele and Pete Bibby on the death of the Duke of Edinburgh and media coverage of it

“Inevitably he will be remembered for the gaffes,” BBC TV told me on Friday. I interviewed the Duke of Edinburgh for the BBC over 20 years ago for a documentary presented by George Monbiot. The duke (whom we were talking to as president of the WWF) was informal and funny, and his intelligence shone through; he had a manifest love of nature and a terrifically detailed grasp of his environmental brief. The gaffes are a tired trope, endlessly headlined by our alternately sycophantic and feral media. Yes, the duke was impatient with the constraints he was permanently under, and yes, he occasional showed archaic attitudes. But at this time, it would be nice to acknowledge his positive qualities.
Martin Buckley
Farringdon, Hampshire

• I and many of your readers, I’m sure, would like to complain about the 13 pages on Prince Philip in Saturday’s Guardian (10 April). I would be interested to know what percentage of your readers read any of it. After all, by Saturday morning we all knew everything we wanted to know about him, and more, due to almost a full day’s blanket coverage on radio and TV. I expected better than a repeat performance across your pages.
Carl Gardner
London

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Ex-police reveal bribes and threats used to cover up corruption in 70s London

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BBC documentary to examine incidents that led to setting up of unit on which Line of Duty’s AC-12 is based

One of London’s most senior police officers, described by a colleague as “the greatest villain unhung”, was believed to be involved in major corruption in the 1970s but never prosecuted, according to a new documentary on police malpractice.

Former officers who exposed corruption at the time describe how they were threatened that they would end up in a “cement raincoat” if they informed on fellow officers and were shunned by colleagues when they did.

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Keeping an eye on the force: life in the real Line of Duty

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As the popular BBC drama returns, a former crime reporter takes a look at the reality of fighting police corruption

Last week, an officer from South Wales police received formal notification that they were under investigation regarding their dealings with a man who had been arrested and held overnight in a cell in Cardiff.

The suspect had been released from custody the following morning then found dead shortly afterwards. The investigation is to focus on whether the level of force used by the officer was “necessary, proportionate and reasonable” in the circumstances.

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