The Hutton Report - Class task

Unit 7 Understanding the Television Industry

The Hutton Enquiry and “One of the worst days in BBC television History”

The Hutton Enquiry was a British judicial inquiry into the events before and surrounding the death of David Kelly in July 2003 an employee of the ministry of defence.David Kelly had been named by the BBC as the source of a story they had ran on the BBC 4 Today program which claimed that the Labour Government had knowingly misled the population into a report about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.The enquiry largely discredited the BBC and many key figures from the BBC including Gavyn Davis, the Chairman of the BBC, Andrew Gilligan, the radio 4 reporter and Greg Dyke ,the director general of the BBC, resigned after the report was published.

Summarise the events surrounding the The Today Program and the Hutton enquiry. Briefly explain the findings of the Hutton report

Describe the key figures surrounding the Hutton report: David Kelly, Andrew Gilligan, Greg Dyke, Tony Blair and Gavyn Davies and their role in the events

Do you think that the events surrounding the Hutton report have compromised the BBC’s impartiality charter? Do you feel that it is an example of the Government trying to control the news stories coming from the BBC? Do you agree with the findings of the report?