BBC veteran David Dimbleby says corporation can damage its own reputation when it rushes to defend itself against public criticism about trust and impartiality
- BBC veteran David Dimbleby said the broadcaster it rushes to defend itself
- The former Question Time host said this can instead damage its own reputation
- Mr Dimbleby, 83, added that the broadcaster is ‘obsessed’ with being trusted
BBC veteran David Dimbleby has said the corporation’s rush to defend itself against criticism can lead to it damaging its own reputation.
The former Question Time host said the broadcaster is ‘obsessed’ by the need to be trusted and its first reaction under fire is to ‘fight back’.
Mr Dimbleby, 83, made the remarks in his new three-part documentary about some of the broadcaster’s most difficult moments, Days That Shook The BBC.
It looks at the biggest BBC controversies of the recent past, including the Jimmy Savile scandal and prank calls made by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.
BBC veteran David Dimbleby has said the corporation’s rush to defend itself against criticism can lead to it damaging its own reputation
Mr Dimbleby said: ‘The BBC is obsessed by this idea of trust, that it needs to be trusted.
And the trouble the BBC gets into can often be because its first reaction is to fight back.
‘And that’s a difficulty because if you start off doing that, then if you do find something has gone wrong, it normally takes some time before you discover and by then the damage to your reputation has been done.’