0:00
shame and do the right thing and resign
0:03
Well, I think what's interesting, Andrew, is that the way that the BBC has responded to this
0:08
is to largely ignore it. I don't think that the BBC managers get the importance of this
0:16
and how terrible this is. They didn't get it when it was raised internally
0:21
They kind of shrugged and said, well, you know, we edit videos, it's just, you know, it's what we do
0:26
And even since we published the story, I've spoken to people who have spoken to Tim Davie, the Director General, and he's still basically maintaining the same line
0:38
And I think what's interesting is if you compare that to the way they responded, as you well remember, Andrew, in 2007
0:44
when the BBC effectively faked a trailer for a documentary about the Queen
0:49
when people will remember it made it look as though the Queen had stormed out in the half from a photo shoot
0:55
when, in fact, the clip of her storming out was her walking in
0:59
That ended up with the controller of BBC One losing his job over that. And the difference now is that the managers just don't seem to care about this stuff
1:08
And moreover, I think that because it's Trump, there seems to be this attitude that, well, it's Trump, nobody likes him anyway
1:14
It's what he probably would have said. It's what he meant. So let's just make him say it
1:20
And then nobody's going to mind about that. Terrible. It does seem extraordinary that the BBC set themselves up as the nation's fact checker and exposer of disinformation
1:30
And yet they seem extraordinarily blas when they putting out disinformation themselves Do you think this is just a case of groupthink where they all think the same thing and they just can see any harm in what they doing
1:43
I think that's true of people at the top of the organisation. There are some very good people at the BBC
1:49
There are some very good journalists. I've had calls from one or two of them this week
1:54
They've been backing what we've been doing. Some of them are very uncomfortable with the – I think you played a clip of it there ��
2:00
the BBC's promo that they're doing at the moment, where they're talking about, you know
2:05
how the BBC is the place where you get the truth, how they're fighting against disinformation
2:11
And they're very uncomfortable about that because, I mean, for a start, they've made themselves rather foolish because of this
2:17
But I think the overall impression that you get from this 19-page letter
2:23
that was sent to the BBC board by a former advisor to their editorial guidelines and standards committee
2:32
is of an organisation that's kind of out of control now, that it's almost ungovernable because so many people
2:39
within that organisation now appear to come to work with an agenda. And rather than protecting the impartiality
2:46
and the fact-based journalism that the BBC is built on and which their Royal Charter is built on
2:54
they just come to work wanting to promote a particular worldview and nobody picks them up on it because they all agree with it
3:00
Indeed, God, I'm so sorry. We are going to have to cut in and leave it there because we're out of time
3:04
But a great story and well done, the BBC. We have got a slip from the BBC, which we can read a little later
3:09
because, as have it, it's very long
