British journalist Martin Bashir resigned from Bbc – for health reasons, he has been on sick leave for months – while his professional conduct is under investigation in relation to his 1995 scoop interview with Princess Diana, which aired on the program “Panorama». The Guardian.
The deputy news director of the Bbc, Jonathan Munro, announced to the broadcaster’s staff that “Martin Bashir has left his position as head of religious news on the BBC and also leaves the Corporation. He informed us last month, before returning to the hospital for yet another heart operation ».
Last year, following pressure from Lady Diana’s family, the director of the Bbc Tim Davie, commissioned an independent investigation into how Bashir managed to persuade the princess to talk about her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles in front of a camera.
The suspicion is that the reporter used false documents to gain the trust of the Spencer family. Panorama will dedicate a special to the story, trying to clarify the story of 1995. The interview, which became legendary after the revelations about Carlo and his never interrupted bond with Camilla (famous is the phrase “we were three in that marriage”), made Bashir a star of journalism. But many continued to wonder how he got it and on the occasion of the 25th anniversary two years ago, various British media reopened questions about Bashir.
The suspicion is that the reporter showed fake bank statements to Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, hinting that the media was paying someone in the family circle for burning information. The interview with Diana, who at that point had the go-ahead from the family, would instead have clarified.