BBC acting DG Mark Byford leading editorial review

BBC acting DG Mark Byford leading editorial review

BBC

MUMBAI: Last month, there was organisational upheaval at the BBC following the publication of Lord Hutton's report on the death of weapons expert David Kelly. The report was seen by many as a desperate attempt to save Britain's PM Tony Blair. Hutton's report had exonerated the British government almost wholesale of "sexing up" its Iraq weapons dossier with unreliable intelligence.

The then DG Greg Dyke resigned as did BBC chairman Gavyn Davies. Now the acting DG Mark Byford is leading a review of the editorial lessons to be learned for the broadcaster.

Byford has formed a small review group to assist him in this task over the next three months. The team will be chaired by Ronald Neil, the former director of BBC News and Current Affairs who worked for the BBC for over 30 years.

The aim of the review is to examine the editorial issues for the BBC raised by the Hutton report. The committee will identify the lessons to learn and make appropriate recommendations including necessary revisions to the Producers' Guidelines and to the handling of complaints. The review team will support Mark Byford in the work and the Acting DG hopes to take forward the recommendations to the BBC's Board of Governors in June.