BBC 'deceit': What next for the corporation?

Tony Hall arriving to take up the post of BBC director general in 2013

This is a crisis that goes to the heart of the BBC's DNA - the values of integrity and fairness that underpin its reputation around the world.

The deceit may go back a quarter of a century, but there are unanswered questions that carry huge jeopardy for the corporation today.

In his first speech after taking over as director general after the Jimmy Savile scandal, Lord Hall addressed the culture of the BBC.

"No organisation as big as this one can avoid making mistakes," he said.

"But I want to ensure that when we do make mistakes, they are caused by trying to serve our viewers, not by looking after ourselves.

"And when we do make mistakes - and we will - let's own up to them quickly, learn from them and move on."

Difficult questions

But Lord Dyson's report suggests the corporation's values and principles were parked to protect its corporate reputation.

The BBC used its press office to deflect difficult questions, the kind of institutional cover-up its own journalists seek to expose.

The corporation stands accused of hostility to staff who sought to blow the whistle on Martin Bashir's lies.

Former BBC graphic designer, Matt Wiessler, says he has only just received an apology

The graphic designer Matt Wiessler, who was commissioned by Bashir to create mocked-up bank statements, has long claimed he was made the scapegoat for the scandal.

"There is this culture within the BBC, that the little people... we don't really need to be addressed," he said.

Today he said he had received the "absolute minimum" apology from BBC bosses - in a letter which arrived late last night.

"Only under duress do we get some sort of apology and some sort of acknowledgement," he added.

The BBC said on Friday that there had been "radical change" to its whistleblowing procedures over the past 25 years, and they had "changed out of all recognition".

A spokesman said: "We now have a thorough and industry-leading whistleblowing scheme which provides clear and independent routes to raise concerns and, if necessary, direct access for whistleblowers to a non-executive director on the BBC board."

Another question the BBC must answer is why Martin Bashir was re-hired by the BBC as religious affairs correspondent in 2016.

Lord Hall was director general at the time and had intimate knowledge of Bashir's behaviour.

The BBC's head of newsgathering, Jonathan Munro, said at the time: "Martin's track record in enterprising journalism is well-known and respected in the industry and amongst our audiences."

In the years before his re-appointment, Bashir was forced to apologise twice for making controversial remarks while employed by US news networks.

On one occasion, speaking to the Asian-American Journalists Association, he said: "I am happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes."

In 2013, he resigned from MSNBC following disparaging remarks on air about the former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

The corporation's religion and ethics review in 2017, led by Lord Hall, promoted Mr Bashir to Religion Editor.

The BBC said this was part of its aim to "raise our game across all output".

Lord Dyson said yesterday that the decision to re-hire him was not closely related enough to his terms of reference, for him to investigate or reach any conclusions.

A BBC spokesman said the post was filled after a competitive interview process: "We now of course have the Dyson report. We didn't have it then."

The former head of news at Channel 4, Dorothy Byrne, last night called the appointment "obscene" and called for an inquiry into how it happened.

Structural change?

Questions have also been raised about how the BBC is governed.

Former BBC chairman and broadcasting executive Lord Grade has suggested an independent body of journalists should oversee standards at BBC News.

"There has got to be a serious governance structural change inside the BBC," he said.

"I think there has to be an editorial board of independent outside specialist non-conflicted journalistic people who can hold BBC journalism to account."

The Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has said the BBC's failings are serious enough for the government to consider taking action: "Clearly the wider issues of governance and the way things are run now need to be looked at."

The BBC, which has changed its system of governance twice since the mid-1990s, said reviews were built into the existing system and one would take place as part of the current royal charter.

"But of course," it said in a statement, "there is much to reflect on".