DG of 22 Jul 03 - 02:39 PM

"The BBC has already dealt with the problems caused by Gilligan's Mail article..... The BBC has taken action to forbid it's journalists from moonlighting for other media outlets which don't have as high standards as the BBC."

I.E. They have shut the stable door after the damage has been done and the horse has bolted - How good of them.

You consider, "that the BBC, or even Gilligan, is (NOT) guilty of any wrongdoing in the reporting of the story as they saw it." Except that when confronted with the statements made in Gilligans article, before the select house committee, Dr. David Kelly refuted practically everything Gilligan said in his article. That same committee who granted "Smug Slug" Gilligan the comfort of a closed interview found the same to be an extremely unreliable and discredited witness. My personal experience with the British media is that their reporters have the story written before they leave the office - I totally agree with Goik's summation above,

"The majority of journalists in this country are scum, totally bereft of honour, and blessed with the ability to sell even their Granny down the river for a storyline."

MGoH:

"A basic principle for any journalist is that, if you have promised a contact that you will not disclose their name, you do not disclose it, no matter what."

I say again, Dr. Kelly when meeting Gilligan, was under the impression that he was talking to a BBC Reporter. Gilligan acting as a BBC Reporter then made his report for the BBC in which there was no way that Dr. Kelly could have been identified - up to now all well and good. What Gilligan then does is park his BBC "hat", don that of his other employer, the Mail, and then proceeds to go into print with the same material in such a way as to make it possible (for at least three other newspapers) to identify that his source was Dr. Kelly. That displays a total and utter lack of integrity on the part of Mr. Gilligan - please do not try and dress it up as being anything different, or in any way honourable.