Princess Diana Scandal: U.K. Industry Experts Assess BBC’s Future in Turbulent Times
Steve Clarke On the same day that Prince William, second in line to the British throne, accused the BBC of fuelling his late mother Princess Diana’s “fear, paranoia and isolation” by deceptively obtaining an interview with her by disgraced reporter Martin Bashir, a new lobby group launched with the aim of protecting the BBC.Launched hours before the bombshell Dyson Report into the Panorama interview was dropped, the so-called British Broadcasting Challenge, backed by such luminaries as Armando Ianucci, creator of “Veep,” actor Steve Coogan and feted British novelist Hilary Mantel, aims to persuade the U.K. government to halt its financial squeeze on the BBC and to safeguard the corporation’s world-renowned impartial reporting.