Jan 28, 2004
THE HUTTON REPORT AND THE BBC
The statement of Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, on the Hutton report prompted me to visit their site, where I found his full statement, an
explanation of why BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan was right to pursue the story, a defense of his story, and the NUJ's threat to take"whatever action is necessary" to protect its member Gilligan if he is sacked or disciplined by the BBC in response to the Hutton report.
As you might expect, I'm not in the habit of defending the nationalized British Broadcasting Corporation but there is no doubt that it certainly does seek to maintain its independence from the government of the day, be that Labour or Conservative, that it has played a creditable part in investigating the truth behind the decision to go to war, and that it does not deserve the sort of vendetta that some commentators are now waging.